Every Day is a Fight for Survival
by KayBeth13
Summary: When Kazuya captures and threatens to kill Lee, it is up to Lee's 18 year old daughter Kerrina to enter the KOIFT5 to hunt down and kill Kazuya, but on the way, she finds love, makes new friends and meets the rest of her dysfunctional family
1. Kerrina Chaolan

I'll introduce myself. My name is Kerrina Chaolan, the daughter of Lee Chaolan. I'm eighteen, nineteen in 5 months, on 13th December. My mum is Anna Williams, who my dad was briefly married to, before he found out she had slept with another bloke when I was six. Not that I can blame him for breaking up with her, I mean, my dad deserved way better than my pathetic excuse for a mother. She left for her home country Ireland with her new lover and my little sister who at the time was only three weeks old.

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Alarm clocks. Who the hell invented them anyway? Whoever they are they deserve to be shot in the ass. Well, they're probably already dead, but one can still daydream, especially when it's about the only form of entertainment I can get here. This is the first thing I think most mornings. How I could make the inventor of alarm clocks suffer without killing him. It's more fun to put someone in pain than take it away from them completely anyway. Not that I have ever killed anyone, but I know plenty of guys that have. That's what happens when you live in rough areas, you fight to survive, or you die. The story of my life.

Every day here, is a battle for survival. You hear about gangs in America, where the fighting is all about turf and street cred? Here, it's simply because you exist, and THEY don't like it. Where is here, you may be wondering? South Korea, that's where. And they are the Japanese that live here too. My dad dragged me out here when I was seven because his adopted brother, my 'uncle' threatened to kill me, so what did my dad do? Only take me to a country where my life was in danger every single day anyway. Way to go dad. Not that I mind, living like this has helped me toughen up, able to face my fears head on. My dad's helped me too. He taught me martial arts when I was younger, but I found that ninety percent of my strength came from my legs, so when I reached thirteen, I secretly took lessons in taekwondo. When dad found out two years later, he nearly killed me, but I calmly challenged him, saying that if his martial art, based off Judo and karate, could beat me with taekwondo, I would quit taekwondo and complete my training with him. I was a long fight and we were both more dead than alive at the end of it, but just as he tried to use his finishing move on me, I suddenly spotted a weakness in the move and attacked it, knocking him on the floor, and straight into unconsciousness. Not one of my best decisions ever, but we can't all be perfect, right? Right?

Anyway, once he woke up a few hours later, he refused to talk to me for nearly a month, but one day I got caught up with a small gang of guys, and he must've seen me fighting the last couple before I realised that he wasn't mad at me, he was just hurt that I hadn't told him and went behind his back. We got over it though. We had to stick together, especially when SHE came back.

Yep. The whore is back and living with us, has been for nearly three years now. As you can tell, I have no love, time or patience for Anna. I don't call her mum, even to her face. What makes her think she's earned the right to be called that. Someone who just ups and leaves her husband and six year old kid behind isn't a mother. They're a bitch. I didn't know why she ignored me for all those years until I figured it out about three years ago. She ignored me because even at the age of six, I was my dad. Well, minus the arrogance (everyone has flaws, and my dad is extremely arrogant. I can be big headed at times, but thankfully, I try to not be arrogant).

My little sister Leah is twelve now. When her and Anna turned up at the house two years ago, I couldn't believe that it was my sister standing there. I had missed her so much. Unfortunately, she has grown up to be a miniature version of her mother, therefore as much as I love her and want nothing more than to be close to her, she will have nothing to do with me as she thinks I am beneath her in every way. I have come to resent her for that. Well, no, I resent Anna for turning her like that. She won't even have anything to do with dad, who may I add is her dad too, just because she's been led to believe that he walked out on them, not anna walking out on us. See why I hate my 'mother' now? I will give Leah one thing, she has both parents beauty. She has dads icy blue eyes, with Anna's brown hair and porcelain coloured skin.

I, thank god, look nothing like anna. I have blonde hair, not sure where from, but I have it, and I too have my dad's eyes, except mine are a slightly darker blue than his. I get my height from him too. My dad is about 6'2, and anna is about 5'2. I peaked at the height of 5'8, a sin and a blessing. A blessing because it aides my martial arts, but a sin when it comes to fitting in and getting a boyfriend. As I live in Korea, the average height is 5'4, so as you can imagine, I tower over both men and women. I'm taller than most guys I know too, and being taller than your boyfriend is not fun. Not that I can get a boyfriend anyway, Runo would never allow it.

Runo is the leader of RZ (Rayza). Rayza is a gang that was formed about twenty years ago to fight the Japanese. You see, though Korea belongs to the Koreans, the Japanese have a few bases here, and think its their right to take over areas of Korea, just like they did in china a few years back. What they weren't expecting were for the Koreans to fight back. It started out with a couple of gangs of around ten people, but soon turned into a huge battle with around thirty gangs on either side, each around twenty strong. I can't remember exactly how I got caught up in the gang life, but within a week I was in it too far to back out. Backing out only meant death.

Runo became our leader when his brother managed to obtain a permanent visa for America and left ASAP, and as no-one is stupid or strong enough to challenge Runo, which meant to fight him for the title, runo became the leader, even though none of us liked him. I didn't mind him so much at first as long as he kept out of my business, but since he murdered my best friend. I hate him. I also fear him because no matter how strong I am, I know he could probably kill me without a second thought if I were to challenge him.

Only one person was ever brave enough to challenge runo. At the time, the second in command was my best friend Kaarnay, who I used to call Kar. He was strong, but not strong enough. He tried to take on runo, but right at the end, runo managed to get his hand on a switchblade, and sent it straight into Kar's back. I remember screaming, I remember the tears, but more than anything I remember the hatred that flew through me. I went to his funeral, but his parents shunned me at the door, refusing to accept me. Guilt through association. That's the reason I train now. I train so that one day I can avenge the death of a great person, and take my rightful place as leader. I say my rightful place because I found out a few years ago that my dad was the original leader of the gang and was the person who formed it, so unlike runo who only had the right because of his brother, I had the birth right. Gangs are similar to royalty. If no one with royal blood claims the throne the next best thing takes it. Same thing here. I wasn't there, so runo took the gang.

I think runo can sense how strong I'm getting as he made me the second in command last week. I think, no I know he wants to keep me close to him. What's the saying? Oh yeah, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. This could be fun. Speaking of fun, I've just been sent a message. The gang are hitting the local nightclub and as second in command, I have to be there. Great, while they all get wasted, I'll just sit to one said and once they can't even remember their names, I'll head on to the dance floor. If only they knew that I loved to dance. I think they'd die of shock.

Oh great, the bitch is summoning me. I'd better go and see just what the hell she wants from me this time.


	2. The Gang

_A little bit of humour in this chapter, and football for any fans out there! Please enjoy!!!_

She tried to ground me! I've never laughed so hard in my life. She stood there telling me to do this that and the other, then when I finally told her to back off and do it her goddamn self, she actually had the audacity to try and slap me! Of course, I blocked it, then she told me to go to my room as she was grounding me. I laughed and walked off to find my dad. He was by the pool as usual, reading a book, ad I told him I was going out for the night so not to wait up for me. He just nodded. As long as I wasn't killed or put in hospital he didn't mind how I spend my time. He knew I'd go even if he tried to stop me, I'm too much like him. Anna heard him agree for me to go out and went into a rage, saying I was grounded and all that crap. Dad just looked at her, then when her screeching finally stopped, he shrugged.

"why should she listen to what you say after what you did to her?"

Have I mentioned how much I adore my dad? I know he's an arrogant pompous twat, but he's never been like that around me, so I get on better with him than about ninety percent of the population.

I left the house shortly after that. Anna had disappeared somewhere, so I had no hassle leaving, except for the glare I received from my sister, which I returned. My glare is about ten times more intimidating than hers, and it caused her to shrink into the living room, which made me laugh. I slammed the door shut behind me to let Anna know I had left, before taking off down the road in a light jog. Luckily I only lived a few minutes away from our base, so it takes me no time at all to get there. I'm greeted by Sask and he lets me in with a grin and a mock bow. Always the joker, that's Sask. Always annoying everyone including me, yet I wouldn't replace him for the world. Ever.

As soon as I step into the base, an arm is flung round me and I'm pulled into a loose hug by none other than our o-so-great leader Runo.

"what's with the pleasantries?" I asked him sarcastically.

His brown eyes briefly hardened at the dig, but he then put on a false smile and squeezed my cheeks, like you would do a child.

"aren't you so funny?" he said with his gravely voice.

I pulled away and rubbed my cheeks. Damn, one of them was going to bruise. One problem with me, I tend to bruise easily. Not a good thing when you take into account what I do on a daily basis. Whoops. Runo let me go finally, and walked over to a couple of the guys who were watching English football. One of the guys in the group, Mark, is English and whenever his team is on, we all crowd around the TV to watch the match. He supports Everton, as that's where he is from. I support Liverpool as that's where my granddad on Anna's side was from. Today's match was Liverpool vs. Arsenal, and at the minute, Liverpool were winning 2-0 with only five minutes to go. Yes!

We watched the last few minutes in silence, except for me, when Gerrard scored his second goal of the match, I jumped up, cheering. Well, it's not every day that you get to watch your team play, especially when you live in Korea. Once the game finished, I glanced out the window to see that sun was setting, meaning it was coming up to seven. That meant it was time to get ready for the club. I disappeared into the toilet and changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a dark blue shirt and a pair of cowboy boots. I let my hair down and gave it a quick brush. I liked my hair. It wasn't really straight, wavy or curly, it sorta did all three in different parts, but the overall effect was quite nice, so I rarely did anything with it.

We left a few minutes later, the guys piling into two cars. I chose to walk as my theory on life is why waste money on petrol when its much healthier and more efficient to walk? Sask and Mark walked with me as there wasn't enough room for them to fit into the cars. I liked the company, it made the walk seem faster. Sask spent most of it making me and mark laugh, especially when the prat walked backwards into a lamppost, but then only went and apologised to it before realising it wasn't a person! Man, that was funny! He felt a bit embarrassed after that and went silent for a while, but once me and mark reassured him that no-one would ever find out about it, he became his usual cheerful self.

We arrived at the club at around half seven, and the bass could already be felt beneath our feet, throbbing through us. I could already feel the excitement flow through me. One love I have had since I was a toddler, was my love of dance. Up until we moved to Korea, I used to dance and won every competition I entered. But, when we moved here, and I got involved with the gang, I had to give it up. If the gang found out about my dancing, it could cause me trouble. I'm the only girl in the group, so I already have to put up with the sexist comments, and being a dancer would only make it worse. One of the reasons I wait for the guys to get wasted before going on the dance floor is because of Runo. He doesn't like me, but if any guy so much as looks at me, he practically kills them, so dancing with them? No go.

Stepping into the club, the dancer in me yearned to head straight for the floor, but I held myself back. Just a couple of hours, and I was free to do as I wished. Until then, I was contempt to sit at the bar and have a couple of drinks to pass the time…


	3. Warnings from runo Romance from Hwoarang

The first thing we always do on arrival to the club is to go straight to the bar for a round of shots. Well, except for Sask who is only seventeen. The baby of the group. He doesn't completely miss out on drinking though as I usually but him one or to in return for him to keep his mouth shut to the guys about my dancing. He caught me out a few months ago, and initially tried to blackmail me, before realising he had no need for it, so I just offered him a couple of drinks, and since then, he's 'forgotten' all about it. He can be sweet. Sometimes.

Anyway, as I was reaching over mark's shoulder for my shot, I noticed Runo tense up and throw a glare to the entrance. I must've been the only one to notice as I was the only one who looked over at the group that had just entered. Unlike Runo, I smiled rather than glared. It was the blood talon's gang. Our rivals in every sense of the word, except for when it came to fighting the Japanese, then we had a strong alliance. I personally had no problems with the group, but Runo had a lifetime hatred for their leader blood talon, whose real name was Hwoarang. I had never really seen him apart from the fleeting glance here and there. All I knew was that he was extremely tall and muscular, with flame red hair. He was also a martial artist, like me. Taekwondo, again, like me. He trained under the same person I had, Baek Doo San, but we had never met face to face. I think I also remember someone saying he was twenty one, so he was only a year older than Runo. Hwoarang must've noticed me looking at him as he glanced over and raised an eyebrow. I rolled my eyes before taking my shot and throwing the glass to Sask, who placed it back on the tray.

Runo had noticed that I had also looked over to the gang, and he gave me a warning look, which I responded to by giving him a smile and ordering a round of drinks for everyone using Anna's credit card that I had 'borrowed' earlier. Oh well, she won't mind. Even if she did mind, I'm sure dad would pay her back. Probably with my money, but she'd get her money back eventually. Runo moved his eyes away from blood talon and was now proceeding to drink his beer. As for me, I settled with a Malibu and coke and gently sipped it while I waited for everyone to begin drinking.

Two hours and six pints of beer later, Runo had finally left the room with some slut in tow, and a quick scan of what I could see in the room assured me it was safe for me to finally step out onto the dancefloor. Sask stayed by the bar with a Bacardi and orange juice in his hand and greedily slurping it. I nudged him and laughed as it sprayed into his face, before heading over to the group of dancers. The second my feet touched the dancefloor, my hips began to sway and within seconds, I was ion the middle of the group, losing myself within the music.

This is what I lived for. As the bass pounded through my system, I felt my pulse raise and my hips began moving faster, keeping up with the music as the beats got faster ad faster. A young man who looked to be in his mid twenties came up to me and began dancing, and he was soon joined by another guy and two girls, and the five of us danced. None of us knew each other, but the music brought us together, even if only for this one brief moment. The next song that came on wasn't one I was very fond of, so I moved back to the bar and dropped down onto a bar stool and grabbed the drink out of Sask's hand, ignoring his protest and finishing it off in one gulp. Sask's mouth dropped.

"Slow down, girl. You've only been out there fifteen minutes."

I have to admit, when I'm in a good mood like this, I tend to have childish impulses, so when he passed his comment, I just stuck my tongue out at him and nudged him in the ribs before ordering him another Bacardi, and a glass of water for me.

I accidentally nudged the guy sitting next to me and turned to apologise, coming face to face with none other than the Blood Talon himself. Well, this was new. Usually when you had two gangs in a building together at the same time, they usually stayed well apart. Well, my gang had all pissed off to the upstairs room, so I guess the blood talons had decided to mingle a bit more. Hwoarang winked at me before he opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey babe, you mind moving over a bit? I kind of want to get a drink"

I glared at him for his rudeness but moved over anyway to allow him room to order his beer. Sask had gone very wary, especially when two more guys from the gang moved over to stand next to their leader. I turned to look at my friend.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. Come on. Let's dance."

I grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the dancefloor, and within minutes, he became a giggling mess. He never was a good dancer, and he found it hilarious when he fell over his own feet. I glanced over at Hwoarang every so often, but it seemed like no matter where he was or where I was, his eyes never left me. It made me feel uncomfortable but at the same time, I couldn't help but blush as secretly, I enjoyed the attention I was getting from him.

I sighed, slowly becoming frustrated with his antics. I know the guy can't dance to save his life, but he could at least make an effort to not fall over for once. I was just about to tow him upstairs when he leant over to me and said he was going to go back to the bar. I had no problem with that and as he moved away, I immersed myself in the music once more, and soon, I noticed Hwoarang making his way towards me and dance with a girl virtually next to me so that I could touch him if I reached my hand out. I tried to ignore him do focused more on the music. I soon felt a person behind me, and they wrapped their arms round me, pulling me backwards into an embrace. At first I was too stunned to do anything, thinking it was Hwoarang. My senses returned to me and I spun round ready to give them hell for it, when I found out that my attacker was none other than Runo. A very annoyed Runo.

My eyes widened. Shit! What the hell was he doing here? Normally, he just took a girl upstairs with him and screwed her a few times before usually falling asleep and having us carry him home at about two in the morning, but for some reason he had come down today. I growled as I realised why. Sask must've told him that Hwoarang and his gang were moving around the club a bit more, and Runo obviously didn't like it.

"So, it turns out that big bad scary Kerrina is actually a ballerina?" he growled.

I rolled my eyes and glared at him, but he didn't like that. To do that meant I was defying him and as far as he was concerned, NO ONE defied him. In response to my reaction, his fist clenched and I flinched slightly as he began to raise it.

Instead of hitting me though, he changed his mind and instead, grabbed me in a vice like grip on the top of my arm and pulled me towards the back entrance of the club that led to a small alley, perfect if you want a quick wham-bam-thank you man shag. Runo threw the door open and roughly shoved me out of it. I winced as my back was slammed against the wall opposite the door. After checking that no-one was in the alley with us, he moved forward. I straightened up enough to face him and he curled his lip upwards before he slapped me as hard as he could across the face, sending me flying straight into a large trash can, and landing on the floor, almost hitting my head as I did. The pain shot straight through me, but so did the anger. Without even thinking about the consequences, I jumped up and spun round to face him, sending my leg up into the air and hitting him straight in the head, sending him crashing to the floor with a grunt.

Not stopping to congratulate myself, I pulled my jacket tightly around me and walked back into the club, pushing through the crowds of people and heading straight upstairs to have a 'word' with Sask. I caught Runo walking back into the club with a murderous gleam in his eyes, and I also briefly saw Hwoarang still looking at me, with anger in his eyes, but not directed at me. One thing my master Baek had always told me it was that Hwoarang was like me, forced into the street life, but underneath his image, he was a kind hearted and justified young man. Though we had yet to speak, I could see that now. Oh shit, Runo had spotted me and was now heading towards me. Time to run I think.


	4. The Japanese attack

Just as I turned to run up the stairs, the music suddenly stopped as a few screams pierced the air. I spun back to look back at the dancefloor to see the body of a young man lying on the floor. A gunshot sounded, and the whole place erupted in panic as someone managed to call over the sound system that the Japanese were attacking. I was stuck on the stairs as people ran past me, so I grabbed the rail and held on so that I wouldn't be pushed down them. I felt a soft grip on my arm and I looked to see that somehow Hwoarang had managed to get over to me and was now trying to help me. I quickly looked towards Runo, just in time to see him and a few of the others, including Sask and Mark, leaving the building. Great. Thanks guys, just up and leave me.

I suddenly caught sight of a Japanese man walk into the club and immediately recognised the items he held. One item was a small bomb, not enough to destroy the place, but enough to kill a fair amount of people. The other item was a gun. Now, I had faced many things during my time in the gang, but this was new and it downright scared me to hell. I looked at Hwoarang, who had gritted his teeth and looked like he was searching for a way out. He turned his eyes to meet mine and winked.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'll get us out of here. I'll distract him and get him to chase me, you head to the roof and escape through the fire escape, got it?"

"Yeah right pal! That guy has a gun AND a bomb. You think you can outrun that?"

I couldn't believe this guy! He was about to do exactly what I was going to do except I was going to be the one running and get him to use the fire escape. Oh well, if he wanted to be the target, I wasn't going to complain. I'm not selfish, but I was terrified and when you're that scared, you tend to do anything to save your ass. That's how it is on the street. Each to their own. I needed to get home, see my dad, tell him how much I loved him. I wasn't about to die just yet.

With a nod of his head, Hwoarang pushed me towards the roof hatch before facing the guy and crouching into stance that I myself preferred to use when fighting. It allowed maximum power with minimum effort, but it was almost impossible to perfect. It had taken me five years to perfect it, but even now, I still sometimes didn't have it quite right. This guy though, he looked like he was born to do it. He must have noticed my hesitation as he looked over his shoulder at me and glared.

"What the hell are you waiting for?! Get the hell out of here!"

I nodded and began to run up the stairs as Hwoarang launched himself at the guy. I heard the sounds of a fight starting, but kept running. Just as I reached the door and flung it open, I heard something that made me stop.

I know he told me to run, and all my instincts were screaming at me to keep going, but at the sound of a gun firing and someone grunting in pain, made me turn back like the idiot I am. Making sure to keep the exit door open just in case a hasty retreat was needed, I flew back down the stairs only to smack straight into someone who was halfway up them and send us both flying. I landed on an overturned table and cried out as I heard the unmistakeable snap of one of my ribs breaking. As I tried to gently ease myself up, the person I had knocked sat up and groaned. I immediately sighed in relief as I recognised the red hair, but then winced with both the pain of my side and the glare he was sending me.

I was about to apologise, but he suddenly turned and looked towards the man he had been fighting, who was slowly starting to get up. Just as the guy was about to look over and see us, Hwoarang lurched forward and pulled me to him, hiding the pair of us behind the table. I had to bite his jacket to stop myself from screaming with the pain. I let out a tiny whimper, only to have him cover my mouth with his hand.

That kinda made me angry. I tried to bite his hand, but he lowered his head and hissed into my ear.

"Shut up! Do you want to die? Coz I don't!"

I immediately stopped moving, and we waited for what seemed like an eternity before the guy spoke into a radio in Japanese. I knew enough Japanese to keep me going, however this guy was speaking in military terms, which I had no idea of. All I picked up was that me and hwoarang had gone and the building was empty. I glanced up at Hwoarang, who was sitting there as still as a stone, his eyes becoming darker by the second. It was then that I noticed the blood, slowly dripping down his arm. My god! He was the one who had been shot! I gently touched the arm, and managed to silently take my shirt off until all I was now wearing was my bra. I waited until the Japanese guy left the building before quickly ripping my shirt up and telling him to take his jacket off, which he willingly did. I wrapped the shirt round the wound and tightened it before telling him he could put the jacket back on.

I looked up at him again, and really studied his face. He was handsome, with a firm face, beautiful eyes, and his lips, god, they looked like velvet. I licked my lips before realising he was watching me, and I ducked my head while blushing. He let out a chuckle but when I made eye contact with him, there was no trace of humour there. Only a steely determination, but for what, I didn't know. He picked his jacket up and handed it to me.

"We can't have you running like hell in only a bra now can we?"

"Oh, ok. Thanks…wait, run like hell?!"

He didn't answer, just grabbed my hand and pulled me up. I hissed and tried to grab my rib as a wave of pain hit me, but the site of the bomb being thrown into the room made me forget all about the pain. I must have surprised Hwoarang because one minute he was in front of me, then once I saw the bomb; suddenly I was three feet ahead of him. I heard him laugh and I flicked a finger at him over my shoulder.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang, I felt myself being thrown across the roof of the building. I had avoided the blast. Barely, but I'd done it. I groaned and sank to the floor, holding my rib, and looked over to see if Hwoarang was ok, only to find he wasn't there! Shit, he must still be in the building!

"Hwoarang!" I screamed.

Nothing. The only response was a pillow of smoke floating out the door. I steeled myself and ran back towards the building, calling for him as I went. As I entered the door, I heard him answer, and telling me to get out, but I ignored him. Being careful of the stairs, I ran down to him and gently helped him up. He flashed me a grateful look, before screwing his face up. I waited until he could stand before slowly walking back to the stairs, his arm round my shoulders. By now, I could feel the smoke filling my lungs, and black spots were appearing in front of my eyes as I struggled to breathe. As we reached the stairs, a beam fell down, blocking us, but for some reason I didn't panic. Instead, I just moved away, and went to the nearest window.

Hwoarang must've managed to get his senses back together at that point as he pulled away from me and hobbled to the window. He lifted it open, and I heard a woman scream, shouting that we were in there. Thank god, someone knew. As soon as the alarm was raised, I saw the fire brigade running towards us with a ladder in to. I looked at hwoarang and he looked back at me, grinning, before sinking to the floor. I laughed, despite the pain. He looked like a child at that point. A sweaty, bloody, smoke stained child. A fireman put his head through the window and called for us to come. Hwoarang went first, despite his protests.

I looked out to the street to see Mark, Runo and Sask all standing there, Sask with tears down his face and Mark as white as a sheet. As for Runo, he looked worried but still looked really pissed at me. Even from here I could see the bruise on his cheek from where I had kicked him. Served him right really. The fireman called up for me to come down and I gently swung myself onto the ladder. As I felt the ground beneath my feet, I dropped onto my butt, and looked around to see Hwoarang walking over to me, ignoring the paramedics that were trying to get him into the ambulance. I gave him a shaky smile and he smiled back.

"You ok kid?" he asked.

I ignored the kid comment, I was too grateful to him for saving my life.

"I'm fine. Get to the ambulance" I croaked and started coughing.

Giving me a squeeze on the shoulder and promising me he'd come and see me at the hospital, he turned to walk away. I reached over to the paramedic standing next to me, who handed me a mask with oxygen flowing through it. I sucked in the air gratefully.

Just as I started walking over to a separate ambulance, a gunshot ran out through the crowds, accompanied by a lot of screaming. My rib seared with pain and as I glanced down, I nearly feinted. Blood. My blood. I briefly heard someone call my name, and saw Sask trying to get to me. The world felt blurry and as I fell back, the only thought I had was "why is the ground soft?" after that, the whole world disappeared into a fuzzy blackness as I passed out.


	5. Hospitalised

Beep…Beep…Beep. That was really starting to annoy me. Especially as I had absolutely no idea what it was. Wait, the last thing I remember was the pain in my rib. Oh yeah, some bastard shot me. That meant I was in hospital, so the beeping must be a heart monitor. Cool, all that thinking and I hadn't even opened my eyes yet. I moved slightly and frowned as a sharp, yet slightly less painful, pain shot through my side.

"Kerry?"

My pet name, Kerry. Only dad was allowed to call me that. Even Runo knew to never call me it as it tended to annoy me.

"Yeah?" I replied.

Wow. What a hello from me. I opened my eyes to see my dad sitting next to my bed, a relieved smile on his face.

"I've been so worried. When I got the call to say you'd been shot…"

He looked away, and I'm sure he was trying to not cry. My dad appears to be an arsehole most of the time, yet when it comes to me and my sister, he acts like a regular guy. A father. I was nearly brought to tears watching him, but I refused to cry. I haven't cried for years, so why start it again now? Dad looked back up at me and cupped my face with his hand. I smiled at him and reassured him I was fine. He pulled his hand back with a sigh.

"Dad? What happened? I don't mean the fact that I was in a building that got practically blown up or that I was shot. I mean, after it happened? How bad were my injuries? What happened?"

I had already guessed that I had been out of it a while, as dad looked as if he hadn't slept for a few days. He gave me another smile and took hold of my hand in a soft grasp.

"When you were shot, you passed out. Some guy, I think they said his name was Blood Talon, the leader of the gang with the same name, caught you as you fell and carried you to the ambulance. When you arrived at the hospital, you were taken straight to theatre. The bullet punctured your left lung and was lodged in one of your ribs. You've been unconscious for a week now."

I could tell there was something else he didn't want to tell me, but I begged and he told me.

"You died three times during the operation. I nearly lost you three times…my little girl nearly died…"

If I hadn't of been lying down already, I certainly would be now. Dad broke down at that point and I could do nothing except stroke his hair as he let it all out. It sort of hurt to move very much. At all, really.

Once dad had calmed down, I took my time to have a look around the room. It was actually quite nice, for a hospital with pale blue walls with yellow vases and curtains. I noticed a flash of red out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see a small vase of red tulips on my nightstand. I winced as I reached over to pick up one of them and sat there, inhaling the scent. I adore tulips, but only dad knew that, so I assumed they were from him. I thanked him, but he said they weren't actually from him.

"I wasn't here when they were delivered but according to the nurse, the young man that delivered them said that the person who bought them knew that you would know who they were from by the colour of them"

"Hwoarang." I whispered and found myself unable to suppress a soft smile.

Dad raised an eyebrow at my answer and reaction, and I just knew he was about to ask the one question that teenagers hate the most.

"Boyfriend?"

Bingo. There it was. Knew it.

"Actually, he isn't. He was the guy that was in the building with me as everything happened at the club."

"I thought that was the Blood Talon?"

"Dad, try to keep up and use your brain. His real name is Hwoarang. Blood Talon is an alias."

"Oh. Hang on, Hwoarang? He isn't Baek Doo San's best student is he?"

I didn't argue, as it was true. Yes I was very good, but hwoarang was a master compared to me. Hang on, how did he know that? I asked him and he explained to me that for the past two years, hwoarang had participated in the King of Iron Fist Tournament. So that was where he knew him from.

A knock on the door cut our conversation short. We looked over and I broke out in a huge grin as Sask and mark walked in. Sask came over to me and gave my shoulder a friendly squeeze.

"Hey guys" I cheerfully greeted.

The pair laughed, but the way they laughed told me it was more forced than anything, and I immediately realised they must have been feeling guilty over what had happened. Dad must've noticed this too, so he told me he was going home and would be back later. I told him to get some sleep and take a shower too before he came back. Once he had kissed my forehead, he left, and I turned my head to face the other two.

"Are you two going to stay feeling guilty for much longer? Because, if you are, then you may as well leave, because what happened was an accident, neither of you can be blamed for running as you were scared and you had no way of telling if I was there or not, ok? Don't blame yourself"

I looked at Sask as I said the last part, and watched his lip quiver slightly as he tried to fight back his tears, but I just held my arm out to him and pulled him into an awkward hug. I was only a year older than Sask, but I always saw him as a baby brother that needed to be comforted and protected. He was still only a kid after all, and I think the others forgot that at times. His family had been killed by the Japanese five years ago, and Runo's family had taken him in, which is how he got involved with the gang life.

Mark looked a little bit uncomfortable at the emotional display, so I threw a comment to him about football, causing all three of us to laugh. Sask pulled away and dried his eyes. Mark sat down on the chair that dad had left behind and Sask sat at the bottom of my bed. We talked and joked around for about two hours, when I started yawning. Sask noticed and offered to go, but just at that moment, a nurse poked her head in the room and told them that visiting hours had finished for two hours. Great, two hours to myself dong nothing at all. Just as he left, Sask turned back for a minute.

"Runo's not angry anymore for you kicking him. Good shot though."

I laughed as he left, but it was forced. One day, I was going to leave the gang life. Yes, I was the rightful leader but to be honest, if being in a gang meant putting my dad and friends through all that pain and suffering, then Runo could keep it and shove it up his ass. Sideways.

This wasn't the first time I had been put in hospital by the Japanese though. I was fourteen the first time. I had been walking down the road with Kar and Runo's brother and our ex-leader, Jansum. A car pulled up alongside us, and two men got out, pulling guns out with them. Jansum told the pair f us to run, and we did, but we were followed by one of the men on foot. Kar stopped and I continued to run, darting out into an empty road to get away, but what I wasn't expecting was for the bloke in the car to come tearing round the corner at that same moment and hit me head on. I had been in hospital for nearly three weeks, one of them weeks in a semi coma. I don't think dad left the bedside in all that time; he even ate and slept in the chair next to the bed. Miraculously though, I only have one scar from that incident, a long, thin one starting at the base of my left shoulder blade and stretching down to my lower back, where a bit of glass caught me.

The second time was only last year, and again it was me, Kar and Jansum, but mark was also with us that time. A group of Japanese boys walked past us and kept sending me wolf whistles and the usual, and it wasn't until Kar hit one of them that it turned into a full scale fight. That time, Jansum was knocked out cold, but fell into the lake we were standing near. I jumped in after him and managed to get him to the surface, but my leg got caught on something under the water, and current pulled me down again.

I had just passed out when Kar pulled me out, and all I really remember was chocking the water up and struggling to breathe properly. That time I was only in hospital overnight, just so they could keep me on oxygen overnight and remove the excess water out of my lungs.

These are the sort of things I think about when I'm left on my own for long periods of time. I also think about dad and Kazuya a lot. I feel sorry for Kazuya in a way, I mean, not only was he nearly killed by his own father throwing him off a cliff, but he also had to sell his soul to the devil just to escape. In his absence, grandpa treated my dad as if it was his only son, and dad was oblivious at first. When he did find out, he let the fact go to his head, and when Kazuya reappeared, dad just made the situation worse by rubbing it in his adoptive brothers' face. But still, Kazuya had no right hunting me down for something my dad did.

As I was thinking about all of this, I began to yawn again, and slowly but steadily my eyes began to drop closed.


	6. Hwoarang's visit

I must've drifted off for a while as I woke up to the sound of someone tapping on the door. I looked up in time to see a certain red head came in, quietly shutting the door behind him before turning to me and sending a smirk in my direction. I rolled my eyes playful and he walked over, carrying a new bouquet of flowers. Blue roses. Sweet. I gave him a tired smile and his smirk softened.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"To be honest, I just want to go home. My chest is a bit sore when I move, but other than that, I feel fine. What about you?"

He looked surprised that I asked how he was.

"I was here for a couple of days mainly due to smoke inhalation. I bruised a few ribs, dislocated my knee and sprained my wrist but apart from that and a few cuts and bruises, I'm great. I hear you scared everyone for a while though."

It was when he said that that I remembered dad telling me that a guy called Blood Talon had been the one to catch me when I fell after I had been shot. So that explains why the ground felt so soft.

"Hwoarang."

He looked back at me and for a split second, my stomach fluttered. No, this is not good. If I fall for him and Runo finds out, I'm done for. Finished. Not only that, but I have too much going on in my life to even think about a relationship. I snapped back to reality as I realised he was waiting for me to finish what I had to say.

"Thank you. For saving me and everything."

"Don't mention it. Us Koreans gotta stick together, right?"

I let out a small laugh at that. Not because it was overly funny, but because I found it ironic. If only Runo could see things that way. I told this to Hwoarang, who went silent, his eyes hardening and all traces of amusement gone. The smile faded off my face and I replaced it with a look of worry.

"Hwoarang? What's up?"

"Nothing. Me and Runo just have a bad history together, that's all. Now, enough about that. No point in stressing you out."

With that, the smile returned to his face. He handed me the flowers while he filled the empty vase he took off the windowsill with water. He then took the roses off me again and placed them neatly in the vase before placing them onto the windowsill. I motioned for him to take a seat and he sat on the bed next to my side. To my surprise, he took my hand and kissed it. I gasped and looked away, blushing. I tried to pull my hand away but he wouldn't let me, instead he just lowered it, still holding it. He gave me another smile, a kind and gentle one instead of his usual smirk and I felt myself blush yet again. I wanted to say something, but had no idea what to say.

Luckily for me, dad walked in at that moment. He took one look at Hwoarang and gave him an arrogant smile that made me frown. I know dad had a reputation, but did he really have to do it in front of the guy that saved my life? Oh yeah, I remember him saying he knew Hwoarang, so of COURSE he had to act like an arrogant jerk. Hwoarang didn't exactly act any better, letting go of my hand and returning dad's smirk with one of his own cocky ones. I had to admit, Hwoarang suited the look, whereas dad just looked like a child trying to frown. I admit now, Hwoarang is hot.

The smirk contest as I call it, only lasted a few seconds, and it was Hwoarang who broke it off, looking to me to tell me that he had something to do and had to go. He leant over and kissed me on the cheek. Me being the complete and utter freak that I am only went and took a sharp breath in and choke on…fresh air! It was only three little coughs, but it was enough to completely embarrass myself. Hwoarang sniggered but then moved closer to whisper in my ear.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Kerry"

I physically didn't have the heart to tell him that only my dad could call me Kerry, mainly because it sounded so nice coming from his mouth. I could only watch with my mouth open slightly as he left the room, sending me one last smile and wink as he pulled the door shut behind him.

I had forgotten for a brief moment that dad was in the room, and it wasn't until he let out a small cough that he managed to grab my attention. I gave him my best sheepish smile.

"What?" I asked

"Oh nothing, just wondering when you were planning on telling me about your boyfriend"

I threw a pillow at him, which he easily dodged, then scrunched my face up as a small pain hit my rib.

"Ow, damnit!" I hissed.

Dad laughed. I threw another pillow at him that hit him straight in the face. That shut him up pretty quickly.

I drifted asleep again, but even in my dream I was thinking about my life. Notice how I hadn't mentioned Anna and Leah? Dad informed them about what happened. Anna said I deserved it for hanging with the group I'm with. Cow. Apparently, Leah seemed to agree with Anna, but when Anna left the room, she asked dad if I was ok and genuinely looked worried about me. As I've said before, I love my sister to bits, but I hate what she's become. Anyway, I woke up and glanced around the room to notice my dad wasn't there. That was odd. Wait, I just heard voices from outside, and I think one of them is him.

I was right. Dad came in a couple of minutes later, but by the way he was walking, and by the look on his face, I could tell something was wrong. Very wrong. He didn't smile, didn't say anything, just looked at me with sadness and fear in his eyes. Oh god.

"Dad? What's wrong? Say something?"

He hesitated, and I thought he wasn't going to answer. It took until I started getting out of bed before he finally responded.

"Sit down. I have some bad news."

I sat back down on the bed. Dad never tells me that its bad news, unless Kazuya finds us…oh shit. Dad made sure I was sitting down before telling me the news.

"They've caught the person who shot you. He's from the Zaibatsu. He…he's told Kazuya you're here and they're sending people over tomorrow morning."

"Oh my god! What are we going to do?!"

"Calm down. You're staying here with your mother. I'm leaving tonight to find Kazuya and stop him from coming after you.

If he thought for one second that I would be happy with that, he thought wrong. He must've realised that as he squeezed my hand.

"There has to be another way dad." I said.

"No, I'm going. Look if you don't want to stay with your mother, I can arrange for you to stay with your cousin Steve Fox in England until it's over."

"Steve Fox? As in the British boxing world champion? He's my cousin? Awesome!"

I decided to stay with him. Anything had to be better than Anna. Dad filled me in about my cousin, telling me about the fact he was a scientific experiment etc. when he stopped. I spoke.

"When are you leaving?"

"In seven hours"

I know I appeared to be quite calm and accepting over the sudden change in my situation,. To be honest I'm terrified, but I'm also angry. I'm sick of always having to run. However, I have been prepared for something like this to happen for years now, so it isn't really a surprise. The only surprise is the fact that dad is going after Kazuya this time. Maybe he thinks I'm old enough now to look after myself if he doesn't come back. Despite all of this, I can't help but feel excited at the fact I was going back to England, especially as I was only 6 the last time I was there. I was going back to where my life and troubles began.


	7. England

Within two hours of dad breaking the news to me, I was back home, preparing to pack my bags, while dad made arrangements with my cousin and then told Leah and Anna what was happening. Anna, of course, threw a hissy fit and stormed out of the house like I would have expected a five year old child to do. Leah's reaction surprised me though. I had to climb up onto a chair to collect my suitcase off the top of the wardrobe, but I could fell my stitches pulling as I reached up. Just as I was about to call dad for some help, a chair appeared next to mine and Leah climbed up onto it, grabbing the case for me and placing it on the bed, before zipping it open. I climbed off my chair and gave her a questioning look, that she responded to with a shy smile, and asking what tops I wanted to take with me.

"You're actually helping me?" I asked

She flinched very slightly and I realised I sounded quite harsh and cold, but before I could apologise, she spoke.

"I've realised, certainly recently with how dad reacted to you being in hospital, that it wasn't dad that left me and mum, but mum that left you and dad. She's just a glorified bitch" She said.

Hearing her say that filled me with more happiness than I could ever have imagined. For a brief moment, I let myself act on the emotion and pull my sister in for the first hug I'd had with her since she had been a baby. Instead of pulling away from me as I had expected, she actually returned the hug and when she pulled away, she had to brush a few tears off her face.

Once we had finished packing, I had one suitcase and a backpack. Leah carried the suitcase downstairs, and the pair of us giggled as dad saw it and his jaw dropped in pure shock. Leah looked to me and I gave her an encouraging smile. She gulped before stepping up to dad and saying the same thing to him as she had said to me, just leaving out the glorified bitch bit. She buried herself in his chest as he wrapped his arms round her in a tight hug. I was glad that Anna wasn't there as I knew she have ruined the moment in one way or another. Dad pulled away from Leah and turned to face me.

"It's been arranged. Your flight leaves in two hours. You should arrive in London by midnight, which is nine in the morning their time, meaning it's a 9 hour flight. My flight leaves for Tokyo half an hour after yours, so I'll be there when you leave."

I just nodded, unable to answer. It was all so real now. I was really being separated from him for the first time in my life. We were leaving in fifteen minutes, meaning I didn't have time to say goodbye to Mark and Sask. I couldn't give a shit about Runo, but I wanted to see the other two. And Hwoarang…my heart did s strange jump as I though about him, and it hurt to think I may never see him again. I had no time to dwell on it though, as dad was telling me to pack my stuff in the car.

At the airport, time seemed to stand still as me and dad waited for the boarding call for my flight. Dad was pacing and to be quite honest, it was starting to drive me insane.

"Dad, can you please…"

The intercom burst to life, interrupting me to call my flight. Dad's pacing completely stopped as he moved over to me and picked up my suitcase. We walked over to that belt thing that you put your bags onto to be loaded onto the plane, and he dumped my suitcase on it. I shouldered my backpack and turned to face him. Before I could say anything, he pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Be careful and promise me you'll come back alive" I whispered.

He pulled away and cupped my cheek.

"I promise." He paused and studied my face. "My beautiful, strong girl. I am so proud of you"

I smiled at him, before turning to give the attendant my pass. Just as I was about to give it to her, dad started to walk off, and I felt the emotion rise in me again.

"Dad!" I called.

He only just managed to catch me as I flung myself t him, burying my face into his neck and hugging him with all my strength. He gently wrapped his arms round me, and ok, I'll admit, I cried for the first time in so many years. When I pulled away, he wiped my tears off my face and smiled.

"I love you." I said.

He kissed my forehead.

"I love you too. Now, get on that plane" he joked and I laughed, even though I didn't really feel it.

Once I was on the plane, and it started taking off, I closed my eyes to stop the tears and also so that I wouldn't see the ground shrinking as I moved away from my dad. It wasn't until we were about 10 minutes into the flight that I finally opened them. I quickly brushed away the stray tears to avoid any awkward questions about why I was so sad. A man sat near to me and gave me a smile, but I physically didn't have the strength to return it, instead facing out the window, ignoring his comment about how rude we teenagers are nowadays. About half way through the flight, I apologised to the man for my rudeness earlier, and gave him a very brief explanation about my dad sending me away to free me from the war in Korea. The man was very kind and even though he was sympathetic, he didn't shower me with questions or pity. He just accepted my apology, talked to me for a bit, and fell asleep a while later. My phone suddenly buzzed and I realised I hadn't turned it off. I looked at it to see it was a message from none other than Runo.

_Meeting ended 10 mins ago- where the fuck were you? Better be here tomorrow, or else!_

I snorted. Or else what, Runo? Ruin your reputation and hit a girl in front of a group of people? I wasn't scared of you anymore. I put my phone away and decided to get a new one once I was in England, make a completely new start, away from the gang life. Once and for all.

I slept through most of the rest of the flight, listening top my I-pod. One thing about having a multi-cultural family and living in various countries is that I've grown up with such a wide variety of music, I don't ever get bored of listening to the same stuff over and over again. I had American, English, Korean, Japanese, and even Russian music from the time I stayed with Baek Doo San's friend in Russia one spring for a couple of weeks. I can't remember his name now, only that he was really kind and I had gone over there to do some private training and to also just get a break away from it all. Dad had even come with me. It was the best holiday I've ever had.

I was still trying hard not to let the sadness of leaving home overtake me, but the closer we were to England, the more a feeling of excitement filled me. I wondered what Steve was like. I had once been a huge fan of his, watching every match, and I even went to a couple when he did a Korean tour two years ago, but as I had gotten older, the adoration became more admiration, and I am still a fan, just a much more mellowed out fan. Before the plane had arrived back in Korea, dad had told me everything he knew about Steve, including the fact that he was actually an experiment from the time my mum and Aunt Nina had been frozen in time. I felt sorry for him. I couldn't even begin to imagine finding that out about myself.

Anyway, once the plane finally landed and I had collected my luggage, I made my way to the gateway, where I was to be picked up. I recognised Steve instantly, and it helped that he was tall enough to be seen over everybody. He WAS tall; I think I remember reading that he was 6 feet 5 or something like that. Looking at him now, I could see we were related. We both had almost identical blonde hair and similar blue eyes, and in our features we were very similar. Steve was looking through the crowd I was in with a frown on his face, but when he saw me (he must've known it was me by the fact we look alike), his frown became a smile and he sent me a wave. A woman behind me sharply breathed in.

"Oh my god! Is that Steve fox? Why is he waving at us? That's awesome!"

I laughed, and ignored the glare she and her companion sent me, before I rolled my eyes at them and returned Steve's wave with a yell of "hey Steve!" and he answered me. I glanced back at the woman to see she had turned very red and looked very embarrassed. I laughed again and was still grinning when I met up with Steve.

"Something funny?" he asked.

I told him about the woman and he laughed, before telling me to wait where I was. He jogged off to the woman and shook her hand before giving her an autograph and posing for photos. Dad told me he was a nice guy. That was sweet. H came back over and gave me a hug.

"So, you're my cousin Kerrina" he said.

"Yeah. My family are allowed to call me Kerry. I prefer that."

"Ok Kerry. Let's go"

I immediately knew I was going to get along well with him.

We drove to Steve's apartment (in his mustang! I've always wanted to get into a mustang!) In the middle of London city. I had to whistle in amazement at the place. There was a lot of glass to divide the rooms, but there was also wood and the overall effect was magnificent. There was a large pane of glass separating the hallway from the living room, and it let on so much light, it was almost unbelievable. I stepped out onto the balcony outside the living room and my jaw dropped. I had seen London a fair few times, but never from this high up. It was amazing. I could see the entire city from this view, the river, houses of parliament, everything. I hadn't realised until now just how much I had actually missed England. I don't remember much, but I missed what I could remember. Steve called me in and showed me my room. As with the whole apartment, I fell in love with it. The walls were a deep red, with black curtains and a black carpet. Everything else was gold. It was a very nice Japanese theme overall. There was a plaque on the wall and I smiled as I read it.

"He who strives to be the best will never win. He who strives to do his best will always win."

"You speak Japanese?" Steve asked.

"Yep. I also speak Korean and I'm semi fluent in Russian."

"Wow. I know a little bit of Japanese, but I can't read it."

Steve laughed for some unknown reason, before disappearing to let me unpack. The first thing I did was flip my phone open to see if I had any messages. There were four. One was from Sask asking where I was and that Runo was on the warpath as I didn't reply to his message, one was from dad telling me he was in Japan and I wasn't to contact him, he would contact Steve, and two from Leah saying that Anna was still being a bitch and the other saying she missed me. I put the phone down and unpacked my bags, throwing all of my gang clothes into a sack. In the gang, the only clothes I could wear were really big and baggy that were always black too. I was sick of them, but it was all I had, so I needed to go shopping.

I moved back into the living room and told Steve that I was going out. He just nodded and threw a spare front door key over to me, telling me that he didn't have any rules except he hated shoes on the carpet. I nodded and grabbed the sack of clothes before leaving. Just outside the flat door, there was a chute for people to throw their rubbish down, so I threw the sack down it. Goodbye old life, hello new life.

By the time I got home, my credit card had a small dent in it, and I had about twenty bags with me. Steve raised an amused eyebrow.

"Got enough?"

As I moved to put the bags in my room, I filled him in on my gang life and how I had thrown out all of my clothes. This was a new start. He told me he would support me and between us, we were going to help me completely start fresh.


	8. The letter

A month later, I had completely settled into my new life. Steve and I had become extremely close, so close, people would start thinking we were siblings or something rather than cousins. I had only heard from dad once, and that was because he wanted to hear that I was still safe and to say he hadn't been able to get to Kazuya, and had gone into hiding again. Leah rang me every Sunday, and I rang her every Wednesday to catch up. I had contacted Sask and filled him in on what had happened, and he had accepted it quite well.

Anyway, I had decided that I was finally getting my new mobile. Well, I had to get up first, which proved very difficult to do as the bed was so comfortable I wanted to stay there forever. However, I had stuff to do, so with a heavy reluctance, I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled over to the ensuite bathroom. I had a quick shower, which immediately lifted my spirit. As I started towelling my hair dry, I moved into the kitchen only to find that Steve was nowhere to be found. There was a note attached to the fridge, that I found when I grabbed a carton of apple juice out of it.

_Morning kiddo! Sorry, I have a feeling you don't like being called that. Anyway, I have training today, but I'll be back by about 1pm. See you later,_

_Steve xx_

I had to chuckle at that. It was exactly the sort of note I would leave. We were so similar it was scary. I quickly scribbled a note underneath stating that I was out and that he was right, I hate being called kiddo.

Once I was dressed, I pulled my hair up into a pony tail and threw my new jumper on before grabbing my keys and closing the door behind me. It only took me ten minutes to get into the city, and another ten to find a mobile phone shop. It didn't take long to pick out a new phone, a small white Sony Ericsson. After making sure to send everyone except Runo a message with my new number, I threw my old phone away. I knew Sask and Mark would make sure to hide the number so that Runo couldn't trace me. Leah immediately replied to say that she had the number and that Sask had been round earlier to see her. It turns out they were actually dating now, which I found was sweet, as long as Runo didn't find out, I didn't mind. The second he did find out, I would be on the next flight back.

Once I was back at the flat, I noticed Steve was home and he waved at me as I entered the living room. I waved back before moving into my room. I still had some unpacking to do. When I finished, I moved back out of my room and asked Steve if I could borrow his laptop to check my emails. No surprise, he allowed me. I quickly logged on and checked the emails. I had one, from an unknown sender.

_Tomorrow, do not leave your flat. HE has realised you are no longer in Japan. HE will be after you. Stay in your flat for two days. Do not tell Steve, just do it._

_Good Luck_

I deleted the email. Ok, don't tell Steve. Hell, if this person was about to save my life, I didn't care. HE could have been one of two people…Kazuya or Runo. Whichever one it was, I wasn't about to be caught by them. I logged off again, just as a letter came through the door. Steve yelled as he opened it.

"Yes! About time the dick heads did another one!"

Umm, weird. I have a cousin who spontaneously yells when he discovers something. Great.

"Another what?" I asked.

"King of Iron Fist Tournament."

Even I noticed my face fall. Dad was going to be there, so was Hwoarang. I desperately wanted to go, but it wasn't a good idea. The letterbox went again and I picked up the letter, that was identical to Steve's but with my name on it. How the hell…? Hang on; this was my dad's writing. I ripped it open to se an invitation in it along with a letter. Steve asked me what it was and I told him what it was. I moved into my room before reading it.

_Kerry,_

_He found me. I know he's found you too, nowhere is safe anymore. I thought that the only way to end this was to fight in the upcoming tournament, but they'll find me before then. Because of this, I have sent you my invitation. As it is no longer safe for you anywhere, I have decided to let them take me and you will have the choice to fight in my place. Just remember that no matter what, I love you. Tell Leah I love her too, with all my heart. Make me proud. _

_I need you to pay attention to this, it's about Anna, she's not_

_They've found me, I have to go._

_I love you._

_Dad_

I placed the letter back in my envelope and pulled out the invitation, hoping this was a sick joke, but one look at my dad's name written on the name line made me realise this was very, very real, too real. I was scared. Kazuya had found dad, he had found me. I needed some air. Whoever had sent me that email was too late, I had already been found. I ran out of the flat, not caring that Steve called me back. I'm not sure how long I ran for, but I do know that when I stopped, it was nearly three o'clock and I was in Battersea Park. I leant against one of the railings and gripped them until my hands were bleeding as the words on my dad's letter swam through my mind.

All of a sudden, I couldn't control it anymore. I screamed. I just took a deep breath, and screamed as hard and as loudly as I could, before collapsing onto the floor, holding the railing and sobbing. By the time I entered the tournament in three days, IF I entered it, my dad would be dead, that I was sure of. I just couldn't control myself. Anger, hurt and sadness were flowing through me, not to mention the adrenaline from running, and I was a mess. I finally calmed myself down enough to return back to the flat, but on the way back one thing kept repeating itself over and over in my mind. 'Anna, she's not' Not what? I was completely confused over that one and didn't have a clue what was going on.

I closed the door to the flat behind me and heard voices coming from the living room, one being Steve. I nudged my shoes off and moved into the living room to be greeted by Steve, who pulled me into a really awkward hug that actually hurt my rib, and I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from hissing. He let me go, and I was pushed in front of his visitor, a Chinese man, who looked like a cop by the fact he had a detectives badge on his shirt. He had really long black hair pulled up into a ponytail and his eyes held a friendly look. I smiled and shook his hand as Steve introduced me to him.

"Kerry, I would like to introduce you to a very good friend of mine; Lei Wulong."

"Pleasure to meet you" I said.

"The pleasure is all mine Miss Chaolan"

He gave my hand a kiss on the back of it and I moved away from them, stealing the remote out of Steve's hand and turning my favourite music channel on. He wasn't watching the TV anyway, so I'm not sure why he send me a look, but I realised he was only joking as he broke out into a grin shortly afterwards before returning to his conversation with Lei. I heard my dad's name being mentioned and I turned my head slightly to hear them a little better.

"They found him. Kazuya has him now, and they're planning on killing him. Nina is looking for Kerrina too."

Now I was confused. I knew my dad had been caught from my letter, but why was Aunt Nina looking for me? From what I heard she didn't even know who I was let alone that I was her niece. Oh well. I think lei noticed me looking at them as he nodded to me and they both turned to look at me. Knowing I had been caught I raised my arms in surrender.

"Would you like me to leave so you can have privacy?" I asked.

Lei looked towards Steve, who gave him a reluctant nod. If she heard that much, she may as well know the full story.

"No, you can stay. We're discussing your mother"

"Anna? But you were just talking about Nina?"

Steve looked down to the floor and I started to worry. Lei noticed and answered me.

"No, Anna isn't your mother. Your real mother is… Nina Williams."


	9. Changes

**I don't think I could breath at that minute. What did he say? Nina's my mother, not Anna? But that didn't make sense.**

"**whoa, wait. You're telling me that all my life I've believed that a two timing Whore is my mother, when in reality, it's her sister? What the HELL is going on?! Hang on, that means Steve's my…woah."**

**Thankfully, Lei had stayed quiet during that outburst. I think he realised that I needed a bit of time and space to think. He let me finish my though, then spoke.**

"**When Anna and Nina were in the freeze, Nina was used to have a child as she had the most skill and talent to produce a strong child. They used her DNA combined with that of a man who is now deceased called Angel and produced Steve. They then decided that they wanted a girl this time, and so they used Nina again this time with lee Chaolan's DNA to create you. However, lee found out about this and the day you were born, he took you, and as he was married to Anna, they decided to raise you as Anna's daughter, not Nina's as they felt nina was incapable of looking after you."**

"**when I reality, it was anna who was incapable. Gee, what are the chances." Steve finished.**

**I think he was trying to cheer me up, but it wasn't working very well. I closed my eyes to try and stop the headache brewing, but I started feeling dizzy. **

"**I don't feel too good."**

**I think steve caught me as I passed out, I don't remember anything.**

**I woke up in my room, and as I glanced at the clock I saw it was nearing three in the morning. Wait, last thing I remember, it was only just 5pm, so what happened. I remember that my head exploded, but nothing else. Great, I must've passed out. I really hate doing that. It never gets easier when I wake up. I groaned as I sat up and steve poked his head round the door.**

"**hey, is it ok if I come in?" he asked.**

**I nodded and he came in, softly shutting the door, before sitting on the edge of my bed. He looked like he was lost and didn't quite know what to say, but then it suddenly hit me. I had a brother, and he was sitting on my bed. Wow, my old idol was my brother, now that was awesome.**

**I think I surprised steve because I leant over and hugged him. He wrapped his arms round me and hugged me, and straight away, I felt safe and protected. I couldn't get my head around the fact he really was my brother. He pulled away carefully and I smiled at him.**

"**so, you're actually my brother? How long have you known?"**

"**I only found out about ten minutes before you came back."**

"**wow. Well, hi."**

**I held my hand out to him, and he shook it, before we both looked at each other and burst out laughing to the point we had to lean on each other before we fell off the bed. The tone sobered a little bit as steve handed me my dad's invitation for the tournament.**

"**so, what are you going to do sis?"**

"**sis. I like it. There's only one thing I can even think of doing, and if I don't do it I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life."**

**It was time for Kerrina Chaolan to show Kazuya what she was made of and finish him once and for all…**

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………**.**

**CRASH! I slammed onto the mat and yelled as my shoulder hit the floor quite hard. I groaned as I tried to sit up, and steve offered me his hand and he pulled me up.**

"**that was good. I really think you're getting it." He said.**

**It had been a week since I had found out about my true heritage, and I had been spending every minute possible doing nothing but train for the tournament. Steve had challenged me to fight him, him using boxing, me my taekwondo. I won easily, but he managed to get a couple of decent shots in, that he gladly offered to teach me. I had learnt them pretty quickly, but now we had moved on to trying to combine both the boxing and the taekwondo together, and that wasn't so easy. Like just then, steve had blocked my attack, but where I could normally land the block, my stance was slightly altered, throwing me off balance and slamming onto the floor. **

**I lay there for a few seconds to stop the slight throbbing from where my head hit the floor. Steve's laughter stopped and I opened my eyes to see him looking over me with a look of worry in his eyes.**

"**hey, you ok?"**

"**I'm fine. Just help me up."**

**He laughed and extended his arm, gently gripping my hand and pulling me up. But, I think I caught him off guard when I suddenly pulled him forward and kicked him to the floor. Now it was his turn to crash to the floor. I smirked down at him and he gave me an impressed look.**

"**not bad" he grinned.**

**I grinned back and walked off, not wanting to be in the room when he stood up again, as I knew full well he would start up another sparring match with me.**

**It had been two months since my letter from dad, meaning I only had one month left until the tournament began, which also meant I had been in England now for nearly three months. I still missed Korea, not the gang, but my family, and I include Sask and Mark in that one. And my dad…it hurt to even think about him. I didn't know how, but I knew he was still alive…barely.**

**After that letter, all hope went, to be replaced by a fuel of anger and hatred that spurred me into spending every spare minute of my life training, not only learning to perfect my taekwondo, but to also interlock it with boxing. Steve had been praising my progress, and even I had noticed that I was stronger, faster and generally more skilled than before. I had been toned before, but with my new training regime, the toning had become muscle and my overall body shape was different. My muscles were clearer and more defined, and my stomach was flatter, making my clothes almost too big to fit me anymore. Even dad would have found it hard to recognise me anymore.**

**It may have only been three months since I left Korea, but my looks had changed too. My eyes had become serious, firmly set, my features were no longer those of a carefree teenager, but were now of a determined and almost cold woman. My hair had always grown quickly, and I hadn't had it cut since I had arrived here, so it had grown a fair bit, now reaching to the middle of my shoulders when it had only just touched my shoulders when I had first arrived.**

**I found it hard sometimes to look at myself in the mirror each morning. Every time I did, I didn't see ME. I saw the shell of a young woman who had everything taken away from her, and had lost her spirit. The harshness in my features and the coldness of my eyes scared me, as I knew they reflected the emotion I felt when thinking about my dad and the situation I had been put in. steve had also noticed the change in me over the last few weeks, and as it grew closer to the tournament, I withdrew more and more into myself, shutting him out, even though I wanted more than anything to let him in, but knowing that if I did, he could get hurt, and so I refused to let myself grow close to him. **

**I know I'm hurting myself and my family, especially as I had stopped speaking to Sask and Leah, but right now, all my life revolved around was to rescue my dad and prove to everyone that I was just as capable as them to defeat uncle Kazuya. The only emotion that had never changed was the slight pain I felt in my heart and stomach every time I thought about Hwoarang, and how I wished I could see him one more time before facing my uncle, and possibly dying in the process, but defeating him once and for all.**


	10. More surprises and an unexpected visitor

Two weeks. That's all I had left until the tournament began. Me and Steve were flying out to Tokyo in a week, which meant I needed to get my new style perfected as I had decided that once I got there, I was only going to train in my hotel room as there was no way in hell I was giving Kazuya any chance of finding out about my style and see how to block my attacks before I faced him.

I had also included a new element to my style. Remember how I love to dance? Well, I was listening to one of my songs the other day on my I-pod and came up with the idea to incorporate dance into my style, and came up with an even better style, that I found easier as it all came naturally to me. I hadn't even shown this to Steve, as this was only going to be used if I became desperate and had to resort to a last measure.

I had relaxed a lot now, as about a week ago, I was training with steve, and he suddenly pinned me to the floor, saying that if I didn't go back to how I was when I first arrived, he was sending me back to Korea where I would be on my own (Anna and Leah had gone to Japan already as anna was in the tournament), and that even though I was broken up over my worry for my dad, I had to remember that I had others who loved me and that if I kept pushing everyone away, I would only end up destroying myself slowly. Hearing this made something snap in me, and I completely collapsed. I think I was out cold for about two days, but when I woke up, I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had climbed out of bed and searched for steve. He had been asleep, but he woke up when I slide into his bed. He turned to face me and smiled as I gave him a playful punch, before pulling me into him and hugging me. We fell asleep like that, and I think Lei got a nasty headache the next morning when he let himself into the flat, and when he saw us he made a comment about incest, to which we both responded by me kicking his nuts and steve smacking him over the head repeatedly with his boxing glove that he kept next to his bed.

I felt lighter as I trained, as if I suddenly had all the strength in the world, knowing I had my brother behind me. It sounded strange to call him my brother, especially as I found out that Leah isn't actually my dad's, she was the daughter of the man anna had the affair with. I still treated her as a sister, but I felt slightly detached from her, especially as even if she was my sister, she would have only been y half sister whereas steve is my full blood brother. Yeah, I was surprised too. It turns out that this angel guy was actually what the scientists had decided to call my dad, and steve was actually my dad's son, meaning we were 100% related.

Right this minute, I had taken a break from training and I was sitting on the balcony outside, watching the world go by as the sky grew darker as the sun began setting. The first time steve had seen me sitting on the balcony, he nearly had kittens, thinking I would fall, but once I reassured him I had done this sort of thing all the time in America and Korea, he relaxed considerably, even joining me once before deciding he wasn't very comfortable doing so. I spotted a taxi pull up downstairs and turned my eyes away when I didn't recognise the person. I couldn't see very clearly anyway. I could have sworn that I saw a flash of red in the taxi then, but I was probably imagining it. Besides, more people than just Hwoarang had flaming red hair.

A few minutes later, steve came into the living room, fresh from the shower and drying his wet hair with a towel. He glanced over to me and waved, and I grinned, sending him a mock salute. He disappeared into his room and I heard him shuffling about, opening and closing various drawers, probably trying to decide what to wear. I hopped down off the balcony and moved into the kitchen to grab a drink, only to find we were out of everything. All we had left was milk, and I couldn't drink that as I was lactose intolerant.

"hey steve?"

"what?" came his muffled reply.

"I'm going shopping. Do you want anything?"

"nah. Take my card and pay with that."

"Kay. I'll be back soon."

I didn't quite catch his response, I think it was something about be careful, but as his head was suck in his wardrobe, all that came out was a muffled mumble. I shrugged my shoulders before throwing on my jacket and putting my shoes on before grabbing his card and front door key out of his jacket pocket and disappearing out the door. I was gone about two hours, which was actually reasonable as the last time I went, I was gone nearly four thanks to a traffic jam outside waterloo station.

As I put the key in the door, I heard steve talking, and then I heard a reply. I assumed it was lei, but when I opened the door and stepped in, I nearly dropped the bags in shock. Standing in our living room, giving me a mock look of hurt, was none other than Hwoarang. My hear skipped about ten beats and I had to remind myself to close my mouth and actually breath.

"Ah, Cinderella, leaving the ball without even forgetting to take a shoe, or leave a phone number anyway." he joked, but I could see that there was actually a small amount of what looked like hurt flash in his eyes briefly.

Steve must've noticed how I had become a mute dummy, so he took the shopping and moved into the kitchen, probably to give us some privacy. I swallowed to try and get my voice to work, but Hwoarang beat me to it.

"look, I'm not angry. It just would have been nice to be left a phone number or an address so that I could contact you."

For some reason, my voice finally decided to come back, and I was grateful that it did.

"why? Why would you want to keep in touch? You're the leader of the blood talons, I was second in command of Rayza. We should be enemies, so why do you care?"

I think I went a bit overboard because his eyes flashed with anger and he lurched forward, grabbing one arm, and covering my mouth with his free hand so I couldn't yell out or argue with him.

"you want to know why? Because I'm sick of the hostility in Korea. But you want to know the main reason, Kerry? It's because I've seen you on and off during the last few years, and I can see through the hard front you put up. You're sensitive to emotion, you're strong, beautiful and smart, but they don't see that. All they see is a weapon, that's all they use you for. You're the only girl that's ever made me look twice at them, and hell, even I don't quite understand my feelings, but ever since I first laid my eyes on you, I've wanted to know you, be with you, possibly even protect you. I care about you, I don't know why, but when I saw you dancing a few months ago, the look of happiness on your face made me happy too, and I knew then that no matter what I was going to speak to you, but then the bomb went off, and after I saw you in hospital, you disappeared."

He trailed off there, and I could see he was trying to control his temper. No, I don't think it was anger, it was pain. He genuinely cared, but like me, had no clue why. Maybe it was just one of those instant attractions, I mean, I liked him too from the second I saw him, but unlike him, I tried to fight it rather than pursue it. I felt so guilty, and a few tears escaped my eyes, sliding down my cheek to rest on his hand that was still covering my mouth. He had looked away from me after his speech, but the feel of my tears on his hand made him look back at me, and I saw the sadness reflected in his eyes. I couldn't take it anymore. I moved his arms off me, before pulling him towards me, resting my head on his chest as I hugged him. I felt him wrap his arms round me, and immediately, I felt safe, as if this is where I belonged.

Steve walked back into the room at that minute, and we pulled apart, trying to look as if nothing had happened. He raised a suspicious eyebrow at us, and I started giggling. He came over and pulled me into a rough hug, which sparked a sparring match between us, that only ended when I pushed him out onto the balcony and threatened to throw him off it if he didn't back down. Hwoarang watched in amusement, and for a minute I wondered why he hadn't been surprised to find me here, before realising that someone, most probably Sask, had informed him of my location, and Steve had probably told us that we were brother and sister. I didn't care how he got here though, I was just so overjoyed to see him.


	11. Mum

A stand with the word 'enrolment' was the first thing to greet me as I walked into the arena where the tournament was to be held. I felt the first butterfly in my stomach. Up until now, I had been driven to revenge, but now I was here and it really sank in that before I could face Kazuya, I had to fight other people first, my confidence was slightly lessened, even with the pep talk I had received from Steve as we left the hotel this morning.

I handed the attendant my dad's entry and explained I was participating in his place. I was fully expecting her to turn round and say that I wasn't allowed to do that, but instead she just smiled and told me that I was successfully entered, and that I would find out at the welcome dance tonight what group I would be placed in. Steve and Hwoarang were both behind me, and once they had registered, we left. We had about four hours until the welcome event started, and so I went straight back to the hotel to have some dinner and get ready.

As I arrived at the hotel, where all the contestants were staying, I bumped into someone and fell onto the floor.

"ouch" I grumbled.

"watch where you are going, peasant."

I growled and glared up at the man. I recognised his face from the photos steve had given me of the entrants that he knew of. This guy was called Miguel Rojo. I could see from the photo he was arrogant, but I could definitely see it here by the way he looked and spoke to me.

"who the hell are you to call me a peasant? Aren't you just a street fighter from Spain? At least I have upper class blood, but I sure as hell don't go around bragging about it" I calmly stated.

He gave me a smirk, but just as I was about to slap it off his face, another man entered the room.

"you should save your energies for the matches" he stated.

I looked over at him. Tall, muscular and quite young looking. He had black hair swept up into a strange style, and was wearing a baggy hoody and a pair of loose fitting trousers. He looked over to me and he took a step back. So did I as I looked at his face. He was the spitting image of Kazuya! That meant he must be my cousin Jin that I had never actually met. Miguel realised I was no longer paying attention to him and wlaked off in a huff. Jin walked over towards me.

"you. You look like Nina Williams." he said.

"thanks for noticing. I'm her daughter. I'm also lee Chaolan's daughter too."

"so you're Kerrina. I'm Jin, your cousin."

"hi" I said, not really paying attention at this point.

Hwoarang had just entered, and I forgot all about Jin and the arrogant prick Miguel. Hwoarang looked over and his face took on a look I had never seen before, and it scared me. He stopped dead and a look of pure hatred an anger flooded through his looks. For a minute, I thought he was aiming it at me, but on closer inspection, I saw it was actually aimed at Jin. I was confused at that. I knew Hwoarang had a feud with one of the contestants from the first one he entered, but up until now, she hadn't found out who it was. Well, I hadn't actually tried to find out, but now I know anyway.

I think Hwoarang finally noticed me at that point as he looked at me, and the dark look immediately left his face, to be replaced by his handsome smile that I loved to see. He walked over to me, roughly pushing past jin, who just frowned slightly before walking off, giving me a friendly-ish nod of the head as he went, that I returned with a smile. Hwoarang gave me a hug as he approached and I hugged him back, until a voice behind me caused me to groan.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend."

I dropped my head onto Hwoarang's chest before taking a deep breath and turning to face the newcomer.

"Anna. How disgustingly horrible it is to see you." I said.

Hwoarang laughed at that, and Anna turned to glare at him, but it only caused him to laugh harder as he wasn't intimidated by her in the slightest. This infuriated her, and she stamped her foot. I had to push Hwoarang away as he exploded with laughter at that point, and he casually strolled down the corridor, his laugh fading as he disappeared. I smiled slightly then turned to face the woman who had lied about being my mother all these years and gave her a dirty look.

"what do you want anna?" I asked.

I did not want to have to put up with her this tournament. I was here to find and rescue my dad. She gave me one of her flirty smiles and I felt sick with disgust.

"what do I want? I was just wondering how my daughter was doing"

"you have no right to call me that. Besides, I know the truth, aunt anna." I hissed.

Her eyes flashed angrily and before I had chance to react, she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my head back sharply, causing me to hiss slightly with the sharp pain that it emitted. She smiled in satisfaction.

"do not cross me my darling dear niece, for I won't hesitate to kill you." she whispered in my ear.

The tone in her voice caused me to shudder as it actually scared me. I tried to twist myself free from her grasp but it was too tight. She only finally let go when Steve walked in with a tall and beautiful woman. Anna's eyes became narrow slits with the force of the glare she sent the woman, and she threw me forward, untangling her hand from my hair and ripping a fair few strands of my hair out as she did so, before she turned to the woman.

"nina" she spat.

As soon as she said this, my head snapped up to look at the woman, and I mentally slapped myself for not recognising her the second I had laid eyes on her. It was unmistakable who she was, and even if I didn't believe it until now, I couldn't deny even for a second that she was my real mother. Staring back at anna was almost my mirror image, the same blonde hair, the same facial features, the same body shape. The only noticeable different were our eyes. Hers were extremely deep, whereas I had lighter blue ones. Right now, she was staring at anna, a blank expression on her face, but a twinkle of suppressed anger shining in the depths of her eyes. Steve came over to me while the sisters continued their staring match, and helped me up off the floor, where I had landed after anna had pushed me.

As soon as I was standing, anna gave us all one last glare before turning and storming out of the lobby. A couple more people drifted in, but I was too busy looking at nina to notice. She must've sensed me looking at her as she turned her head to face me, and the slightest of smiles adorned her face for a split second, before her face became impassive. She didn't move her eyes off me though.

"Kerrina. My daughter." was all she said, and the emotion, though brief, was clear.

I smiled, a tiny speck of water forming in my eyes, this time with happiness. I knew she wasn't the sentimental type but I stepped forward, and for the first time in my life, I shared an embrace with my mother.

"mum…"


	12. About Time

Once I had pulled out of my mum's embrace and she had left with Steve, I moved over to the reception to collect my room key, before heading up the elevator to my room. So far I knew and had met six of the competitors and I hoped and prayed that I would be paired to fight against either Anna or Miguel, even if for no other reason than to wipe the smug grins off their pathetic faces.

I dumped my stuff into my room, and smiled as I noticed there was a balcony attached to the outside of it. One thing I adored was balconies. I couldn't really explain it, but the feeling of the breeze blowing on my face and the views from them made me feel so free and when I was on a balcony, I was allowed to be ME. No-one could tell me what to do or how to be as I wouldn't listen even if they did.

I briefly heard the door opening behind me, and turned to see Steve walk in, sending me a boyish grin. I returned his grin with a wave.

"hey sis. I'm in room 700, and mum's in room 567 ok?"

"cool."

He must've realised I wasn't in a very talkative mood as he said goodbye and left the room. It wasn't that I was being antisocial, it was just that I was trying to stay focused about the tournament, and couldn't afford to let myself be distracted. I was in room 665, and I thought it was ironic that I nearly ended up in room 666, notorious for symbolising the devil, which had taken over uncle Kazuya's mind and body. Go figures.

I stepped out onto the balcony to get some fresh air, but as I took in my first deep breath, the faint smell of cigarette smoke floated up to my nose. I frowned and looked over to where it was coming from, only to be greeted by a face only inches away from mine.

"shit! Hwoarang! Don't bloody do that!" I yelled.

Hwoarang just grinned at me before hopping down onto my balcony. It turns out he was the occupier of room 666, and if he leant over his railing, he was able to climb over onto my balcony, which he had just done. I punched him in the shoulder and he feigned a look of mock pain, causing me to hit him again.

I watched him as he crouched down and flicked his cigarette end off the balcony, before he stood up again and leant on the railing. I also leant on the railing and acting on complete impulse, rested my head on his shoulder. I was expecting a teasing comment to come from him, but I was not expecting the comment I received.

"you nervous?"

"a little"

"good. It's no use being overconfident here. It usually gets you landed up in hospital in your first round."

I giggled at that, but at the same time, I knew the seriousness in his statement. He turned his head to look at me, and I felt a blush rise to my cheeks.

Without warning, his eyes darkened very slightly, and he tilted his head towards me. I also moved my head forward and closed my eyes as our lips met in a soft kiss. Surprisingly, his lips were soft, like velvet, no chapped lips, just smoothness. I sighed slightly as he pulled away, but only long enough to lace his hand in my hair and pull me in for another kiss, still soft and sweet, but deeper this time. I found the confidence to wrap my arms round his shoulders, linking my hands at the back of his neck and deepening the kiss further. He groaned and crushed me to him, hands roaming over the whole of my body. I felt one of his hands skim over my breasts, causing me to inhale sharply, but as he did it again, I moaned very softly, so softly it was almost a whisper. He smiled against my mouth and I stuck my tongue out at him, only to have him kiss me again.

I was in heaven. I had dreamt about this for nearly five months now, and it was finally happening. I couldn't have even imagined how perfect this was. I let my hands trail down to the bottom of his top, and gently lifted it up. He raised his arms up slightly to pull it off him, and stared in amazement at how toned his stomach was. I ran my hands down his chest and stomach, and giggled as his breath hitched. He growled playfully and pulled me closer to him.

"my turn" he whispered, and a shiver of pleasure ran down my back.

He grabbed my shirt and began unbuttoning it from the bottom, however just as he was about to remove it and reveal my t-shirt underneath, I heard my door knock, and decided to ignore it, but then, the handle began to turn. No words were needed to be spoken as Hwoarang quickly pulled away and jumped back over to his balcony, and I quickly shook my hair to make it more presentable just as my door opened and mum stepped in.

"hey mum" I said as I made my way into the room.

"why did you not answer?"

"sorry. I was out on the balcony doing something and didn't notice"

Mum glanced around and her eyebrow raised at something. I also looked down and cringed as I saw Hwoarang's top lying on the floor. I was going to kill him when I next saw him for leaving it.

Thankfully, mum seemed to not really care about what I had just been doing as she just shrugged before turning to face me.

"would you like to accompany me to this meeting tonight?" she asked.

"ummm, sure. I mean, I would love to."

She must have noticed my hesitation as she looked back down at the top before giving me a very faint smile.

"don't worry. I'll go with your brother, if he doesn't already have a date anyway. You should go with Hwoarang"

"how the hell did you know?"

She didn't say anything, only leant towards me and pulled a strand of hair off my shirt. A bright red strand of hair. She gave me a triumphant look, and I knew I was caught, but she just turned and walked off, telling me to have fun, and use a condom. I flushed with embarrassment and when she shut the door behind her, I let out a groan.

Hwoarang had been watching the whole scene from his room and as soon as she had gone, jumped back onto my balcony and pulled me in for a hug.

"what was that about a condom?" he asked

I punched him in the shoulder again and moved over to the railing. He laughed, before moving behind me and wrapping his arms round me, kissing me once on the top of my head before resting his chin on it. I leant back into him and closed my eyes wishing I could stay like this forever.


	13. Guilt

A few hours later, I was ready for the meeting. Well, it wasn't really a meeting. It was more a social gathering/dance to allow the competitors to meet each other and basically size each other up before the tournament started. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to wear and when I knocked on mum's door, there was no answer, meaning I was on my own for now. Great.

After spending about an hour going through all my clothes, I finally found an outfit that wasn't too formal or informal, but also didn't show any statements such as 'I love me' or 'I don't care'. I chose a pair of slightly baggy jeans that had a couple of tears in them, and a white sports top, that I covered with a pale green shirt. I swept my hair up into a high ponytail, with a few strands loose to fall as they pleased. I wore no makeup, but only because I hated it. Overall, I don't think I looked too bad, and I was quite pleased with the look. I took one last glance in the mirror, before I decided to go and meet Hwoarang downstairs. I grabbed my denim jacket and threw it on before exiting the room.

Hwoarang looked as gorgeous as ever. He was wearing his usual jeans and shoes, but he had replaced his usual top with a loose fitting white shirt, and he had removed the goggles from the top of his head to allow his hair to fall naturally. He saw me at the top of the stairs and waved before giving me a wide smile that made me blush slightly, especially as there were about ten other people in the room that had all turned to face me to see who Hwoarang was waving to.

I reached the bottom of the stairs, and thankfully by now, the other people had gone back to what they were doing, except for mum and Steve, who had both seen me arrive and had moved over to greet me. Mum stayed behind steve, but still gave me a quick nod, before disappearing. Steve hugged me and attempted to ruffle my hair, but didn't get very far as I jabbed him in the rib, which caused him to groan in pain and Hwoarang to burst out laughing. I grinned at Hwoarang before linking my arm through his, and we moved outside, steve following us only seconds later, rubbing the spot I had jabbed as he walked.

A line of limos were waiting outside the hotel and I could see small groups of people and a couple of people on their own, climbing into them. Mum got into one on her own. I understood. Mum preferred to work alone and be alone. It was better for her to ask me to join her than for me to just march over there and push my way into her life. Steve slid into the limo with me and Hwoarang, and Hwoarang turned to glance at him.

"what's wrong Fox? Can't get a date of your own so you'll crash mine so you don't look like a loner?"

If I didn't know that the pair of them were actually best friends, I would have probably hit Hwoarang for saying that, but as I knew it was all good fun, I let it slide.

We arrived at the venue for the gathering at 8pm, and luckily we weren't the first or last to arrive, which I was thankful for as they were always the worst situations. We drifted into the room to see there were about fifteen other people wondering about. I breathed a sigh in relief to see that only three people had actually dressed up formally for this thing, and they were Anna, my mum and some guy I hadn't met yet, that when I asked Hwoarang who he was, I was informed his name was Sergei, some Russian guy that wanted world domination or something. I decided that before wondering around the crowds, I would stand at the back of the room to observe the contestants arrivals.

When I reached the spot I had decided to stand in, someone was already there. A red glowing thing caught my attention, but as I moved to step away from it, a hand reached out and grabbed my arm. I was too shocked and scared to say or do anything as the owner of the hand stepped forwards, revealing the red thing to be an eye and allowing me to see who they were. Only then did I react. Kazuya! Without thinking, I launched forward and slapped him, the noise echoing around the room and causing more than a couple of heads to turn. Anyone who hadn't been watching turned when I started shouting.

"you bastard! What the hell have you done to him!? How dare you!" I screamed.

He said nothing, just observed me with an impassive look on his face, as if I wasn't worth his time or effort. He smiled at me then, a cold, evil smile that downright terrified me. I didn't show it though, just glared and tried to pull my arm away from him. Tried and failed. I could see my family and Hwoarang moving closer to us, but before they had time to react, he pulled me to him so that my face was nearly touching his.

"did you enjoy your farewell at the airport? I hope you cherish those last minutes with your father, because I promise you, the next time you see him, there will be no life in his limp body." he whispered, in a flat and unemotional voice.

I tensed, knowing that he was telling the truth. Instead of showing any emotion, I lowered my head, before gathering just enough strength to slam my head into his face, causing him to let go of me and curse as I smugly smiled at the sight of blood trickling from his now broken nose. He sent me one last glare before hastily disappearing.

I looked around the room, and seeing the faces of everyone looking at me, some with fear, some with amusement, steve with pride and Hwoarang with an indescribable expression, made me realise I needed to get out. My answer to everything when I get overwhelmed; run. So I did. I turned and ran out of the room, thanking any God that would listen that I had opted to wear trainers instead of heels. I didn't go very far, only to the end of the driveway, where I slammed into a lamppost and held onto it, trying to force my emotions under control, but failing miserably. After a few minutes, I heard someone walk up behind me, and I braced myself, should anything happen.

"you ok?"

I didn't recognise the voice. I spun round, dropping into a fighting stance should I need to protect myself and the newcomer stepped back, raising their hands.

"chill girl. I just wanted to make sure he didn't hurt you. My name's Asuka Kazama, and you can trust me."

"Kazama? You must be related to Jin"

"We're cousins"

"I'm his cousin too, on the other side."

We looked at each other, before she extended her hand. I gave her a handshake and we smiled at each other. This was going to be an interesting friendship.

We stood outside talking for about half an hour, and by the time we decided to go back, Kazuya was standing on a podium delivering a speech. I smiled in satisfaction to see that one of this eyes was beginning to bruise thanks to the head butt I had hit him with. I slid over to Hwoarang and he pulled me into him, gently kissing the back of my neck briefly before wrapping his arms round me. Steve smirked but on this one occasion, I chose to ignore him. He leant over to me though to speak.

"good hit. I'm proud of you little sis"

I had to laugh at that, so I did, but very quietly. I didn't care about interrupting Kazuya's speech, but I wasn't in the mood for another confrontation with him either, so I chose to keep quiet.

Once the speech was over, some music began playing and some people moved onto the dance floor, while others moved as far away from it as possible. I noted with a smirk that Jin was one of those to quickly move away. He must've sensed that I was looking at him though as he glanced over to me and sent me a small smile, which I returned, only to have Hwoarang ask who I was smiling at, and frown when I told him, which in turn caused me to laugh. He wondered off saying something about needing the toilet and I sighed in amusement.

It wasn't until later that night when we returned to the hotel, and Hwoarang had given me a small kiss goodnight, that I felt guilty. I moved out onto the balcony with a cup of hot chocolate in my hand, when an image of my dad flashed in my mind, and Kazuya's words rang through my head. I gasped as it hit me that he was still alive and I dropped my cup, wincing as it smashed, but at the same time, not caring. It was at that point that I started crying. I had been doing that a lot lately, but then again, I think I can be forgiven especially with my circumstances. I cried mainly because I felt so guilty that I should be trying to find my dad, yet here I was, kissing a man who should be my arch rival, whilst at the same time forming bonds with my family and making new friends. I felt ashamed.

But at the same time, I think it's what dad would want me to do. Live. Move on.

What do I do? Even with everyone by my side, without dad, I'm so alone…


	14. Fighting Schedule

A knock on the door woke me up the next morning. I glanced at the clock and it read 8am. I groaned and pulled myself out of bed, answering the door to be greeted with a huge grin from Steve. For a minute, I contemplated slamming the door in his face. Surely it must be illegal for someone to be so damn cheerful in the morning? He noticed the look on my face and his grin shrank down to a smile.

"morning sunshine"

"grrrr. What do you want Steve?"

He said nothing, just shoved a piece of paper virtually in my face. I grabbed it off him and looked down at it. The heading said Kerrina Chaolan: Group C. I read through it, seeing all my matches.

"we all get an individual sheet with our matches, and on the board downstairs there is an overview of everyone's matches."

I didn't thank him, or even speak to him, I just shut the door in his face, throwing a shoe at it when he called 'your welcome' through the keyhole. I heard him laughing all the way down the hall as he walked off, and I had to admit, it made me smile a little as he had one hell of a contagious laugh.

I looked a bit more carefully at my sheet and smiled when I saw the rest of the people in my group. This was going to be fun. My first match was tomorrow against the really fat guy called Bob, then in two days, I was against Lei Wulong, and then three days after that I was going up against Miguel. A huge smile appeared at that. At least I got to smack the smile off one person's face, even if I didn't get any further. The sheet said that I had to win a minimum of two out of the three matches to move on to the next round. I knew I could take on Lei as I had fought him a few times before in my training, and I was fairly confident about beating Miguel. He was a brawler, which meant that he was reckless, and I had already seen for myself that he let his anger control him. I wasn't so sure about this Bob though. I had heard that even though he was fat, he retained his strength and speed, so he could prove to be very hard to beat, but I'm sure that as long as I keep cool, I could beat him.

I made my way downstairs after dressing, to see a bunch of people standing by the main board, finding out who was fighting who. I walked over to see who Steve, mum and Hwoarang were against, and just for fun I decided to see who Anna, jinn and Asuka were against. Hwoarang was to fight a woman named Julia Chang, a man called Bryan Fury and someone else only known as Panda. Never heard of any of them. Steve was in the same group as me and was up against King, Jack-5 and Lei Wulong. Never heard of them, apart from Lei either. Asuka was against a woman called Zafina and two men called Sergei (oh, the Russian dude) and Marshall Law. Mum was against Roger jnr, Feng Wei and a girl named Lili. Wow, so far, I didn't know any of the opponents, other than mine.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder and a blonde girl looked at me, with a put on look of apology.

"I'm sorry. Did I bump you?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes, and deliberately nudged back. Who the hell did she think she was? I didn't even know her, yet she thought she could push me around? I think not!

"woops" I said casually.

She turned to give me a full on glare, that I returned with a smirk. Wow, I really had been around dad and Hwoarang too much.

"better watch yourself" she hissed.

"or what? You'll scratch me with your false nails?"

"ooo, I'll have fun fighting you if you make it to the next rounds."

"what makes you think you'll get to the next round, princess?" a new voice answered.

She immediately turned and put on a dazzling smile, flicking her hair back and sending him a flirtatious wave. My fists automatically clenched and I grit my teeth.

"sorry Lili, but I told you last year, I can't stand you. Now why don't you leave and go sleep with some other mug? Coz this mug already has a woman"

My fists relaxed as Hwoarang moved away from her and pulled me into him, giving me a small kiss on the lips as he did. Immediately, the feeling of guilt returned to me, but it was shrunk as I saw the look of horror, surprise and hatred on 'lili's' face. I smiled at her and waved.

"toodles"

She growled and walked off in a rage. I just looked at Hwoarang and the pair of us laughed as she went.

Someone came up behind us and patted me on the back. I pulled away from Hwoarang to see who it was. It was a young woman who looked to be a similar age to me and Hwoarang. She wore a plain pair of jeans with a camel coloured halter neck to, covered with a denim jacket. Her hair was in two pigtails making her look almost childlike, yet the glasses she wore contrasted, making her look more mature.

"well done, I've never known anyone other than Hwoarang to speak to her like that" she said.

"thanks…" I answered.

"oh how rude of me. My name's Julia Chang"

"American, huh. Arizona?"

"yes, but how did you know I was from Arizona?" she asked.

"I lived there, in Phoenix, for a while" I responded.

She gave me a warm smile and wished me luck in the tournament before walking off. Hwoarang linked his hand with mine and began pulling me towards the cafeteria, complaining that his stomach was going to explode with hunger if he didn't eat soon.

I watched Hwoarang eating, pleasantly surprised that he actually had very good table manners when he was on his own. It was like when he was in a group, he put up all his defences, yet when he was alone or just with me, he was willing to let me in, see the true Hwoarang. Every time I thought about it, it would send butterflies in my stomach to think about. He must've noticed that I was watching him as he smiled at me and offered me a slice of toast.

"no thanks, I'm not really hungry."

"you ok there sweetheart?"

"I dunno, I just don't exactly have an appetite at the minute."

Hwoarang shrugged and continued eating. I found it strange that he didn't try to find out why I had no appetite, but I assumed that he either understood or he probably thought that I was just nervous about the tournament. The truth was that I needed to think of a plan to find my dad before Kazuya killed him, and the closer it got to my match, the more I trained and the less I slept to try and come up with a plan. I had noticed that over the last couple of weeks I had lost a lot of weight and I was suffering from the lack of food and sleep. I knew the dangers, but ignored them. As long as I won my fights and found my dad, nothing else mattered.

I came back to earth with a start as a hand appeared in front of my face and started to wave to grab my attention. I looked up to see Asuka standing there, a wide grin on her face.

"what is it with people and being cheerful in the morning? I just don't understand it" I groaned.

She laughed and gently punched my shoulder before smiling at Hwoarang and plonking herself down in the seat next to me.

"good morning to you too, miss I-don't-sleep-so-I-snap-at-everyone-in-the-morning."

I looked at her, my jaw dropped in shock.

"how did you know I don't sleep?" I whispered to her.

"I'm in the room next to you. I see you wondering about and sitting on the balcony at all times of the night."

"oh, right. Don't tell anyone, I don't want them to worry"

As I said that, I gave a pointed look to Hwoarang, who was too busy eating his eggs to notice us.

"gotcha" she said and winked.

After breakfast, Hwoarang declared that he had to go and warm up for his match that was taking place that day against Bryan Fury. I gave him a hug and kissed him for luck, and he cockily replied that he didn't need luck, but did need another kiss from me, so I gave him one and smiled softly at him, before he left to practise. While he was gone, Asuka filled me in on who Bryan was. Apparently, he had once been a human, but after he was nearly killed, some scientist turned him into a cyborg, and since then had killed anybody in his way to try and become as strong as possible. Ok, I was a little worried now. I hoped Hwoarang could take him.

Me and Asuka stayed in the hotel for a while, and I kept glancing at the clock, willing it to hurry up so that I could get to Hwoarang's match and cheer him on. Finally, the clock showed quarter to two, so I left the building to grab a limo to the match. Asuka opted to stay behind as she had her first match later on tonight against Marshall. I wished her luck and gave her a quick hug before running outside. It was time for Hwoarang's first fight, and I wasn't going to miss it.


	15. Hwoarang vs Bryan Fury

_**I arrived at the match just before it was due to start. I reached the ring to see Hwoarang just finishing his stretches by raising his keg above his head and pulling it. As he lowered it, his eyes connected with mine and softened, but only for a second, as he saw Bryan step onto the ring and his eyes immediately hardened again, as he became serious, which was unlike him, but Asuka had told me that at the last tournament, Bryan had been the one to knock him out of the tournament, and so far, Hwoarang had been unable to defeat him for the past two tournaments. I guess this time, it was Hwoarang's time to show he was able to take him and finally beat him. **_

_**I watched carefully as Hwoarang took a step forward and lowered into one of his favourite stances, one I had seen him do a few times, but had never been able to actually do it myself as I tended to overbalance when I tried to do it. He sent Bryan a smirk, and Bryan replied with a creepy laugh, that sent shivers flying down my spine and caused me to shudder. Damn that was really creepy. I hoped I didn't have to face him at any point, as just looking at him creeped me out.**_

_**The intercom placed above the stadium crackled before a voice called over it that the match was about to begin and that the fighters had to prepare for it. I glanced around to see that about ten people had gathered to watch, one of them being the woman, oh what was her name? oh yeah, Julia. She was here to watch him, probably to find out what she was up against when she fought against him in a few days. The intercom burst to life again, stating that the match had now begun.**_

_**Round 1**_

_**Hwoarang was the first to strike, raising his leg and sending it crashing down towards Bryan's head. Bryan was able to block it and pushed Hwoarang, sending him flying to the other end of the ring. Hwoarang sprung straight back up and began a barrage of attacks, and I noticed that already, Bryan was slowing, only slightly but I definitely noticed it. He noticed it too as he suddenly slammed his fist into Hwoarang's stomach, stopping the attacks and sending the young man flying again. **_

_**This time, it took Hwoarang a few seconds longer to sit up. I saw that apart from his stomach being a little sore, he was fine, so I let out the breath I was holding in. Bryan didn't give him any recovery time, and caught Hwoarang off guard, slamming into him and ramming him into the ground. Hwoarang didn't rise.**_

"_**round 1 goes to Bryan Fury"**_

_**I groaned and looked over at Hwoarang, willing him to stand up. There was no way he was going to let Bryan win so easily.**_

"_**get up you moron" I muttered.**_

_**I smiled as he finally sat up, rubbing his stomach as he continued to rise. **_

_**Round 2**_

_**Hwoarang groaned as he finally managed to stand up, and sent a deadly glare at Bryan, who just ignored him.**_

"_**alright pal, warm up over, let's get this party started"**_

_**I had to groan as he said that. I should have guessed he would act like that, it was his nature. I watched as he dropped into a different stance, one I had never seen before, and prepared for the next round. The buzzer signalled for the next round to begin, but I wasn't prepared for what happened. **_

_**Hwoarang gave Bryan no opportunities to attack, he just flew forward and kicked the cyborg straight in the side of the head, hurling him to the ground and rendering him temporarily unconscious. The whole round lasted just ten seconds. My jaw dropped and Hwoarang sent me a triumphant grin, before turning back to Bryan, who was waking.**_

"_**round 2 goes to Hwoarang"**_

_**Final Round**_

_**I noticed that Hwoarang's breathing was slightly heavier than normal. He had used a lot of energy to deliver that attack, and I could see that it had drained his power considerably.**_

"_**keep it up Hwoarang! You can do it!" I yelled.**_

_**He gave me a side glance, and I could see the appreciation shining in his eyes before he returned his focus to his match.**_

"_**Final round: Fight!" the commentator called.**_

_**Hwoarang blocked three of Bryan's attacks, but finally, one landed and sent him crashing onto his back. He had to roll to avoid the heel that was heading towards his face, and only just avoided the punch to his stomach that followed. He flipped back onto his feet and swept Bryan's legs from underneath him, before sending a drop kick straight into the cyborg's stomach.**_

_**I heard someone move behind me and turned to see a greying man watching Hwoarang and Bryan intently.**_

"_**he sure has improved" he commented.**_

"_**who…Oh my god, Master Baek?"**_

_**I couldn't believe that I hadn't recognised him immediately. I bowed to show him my respect, and he returned it by giving me a fond hug. We both turned our attentions back to the match, just in time to see Hwoarang being punched straight in the face, but he just retaliated by kicking Bryan in the back, sending him lurching forward. **_

_**Before Bryan had time to react, I saw Hwoarang gather all his energy, and with one final yell, he kicked Bryan with all his strength, catching his opponent in the temple, knocking him straight into oblivion. **_

"_**YES!" I yelled.**_

_**I threw my hands up and punched the air. It had taken nearly three years, but he had finally done it. He had beaten Bryan Fury.**_

"_**Round 3 and the match goes to Hwoarang"**_

_**Hwoarang whooped with happiness before running over to me and crushing me against him. I returned the hug with the same enthusiasm, and laughed as he pulled away to rub his stomach. **_

_**I turned round to see that Baek had gone, and when Hwoarang asked what I was looking at or for, I just shrugged and said nothing. Being careful of his stomach, I wrapped my arm round him, and the pair of us walked over to the limo to get back to the hotel, where I would patch him up and stick a bag of ice on his stomach to ease any swelling. This was going to be fun. Not for him, but I was going to enjoy it anyway.**_

_**After that, I needed to train, as tomorrow was my first match: Bob.**_


	16. Kerrina vs Miguel

_ok, for this chapter, I have decided that I'm skipping straight to Kerrina's final match of the first round, which is against Miguel. This is only because I want to finish this story soon, and describing the matched will take up to much room. All you need to know is that she won against both Bob and Lei so whether she wins or loses, she's through to the next round, but wants to win against Miguel. Anyway, please forgive me, and enjoy…_

I was so tired as I stepped out of my shower. So tired, that I even contemplated not turning up for my match and grabbing some well needed sleep. Even though I had won both my matches so far, I was beginning to feel as though I had no energy for anymore. The match against Lei put me into the medical bay for a few hours as he managed to get a pretty good hit to my head, which hurt like hell. Not only that, but I had been trying harder than ever to come up with a plan to save dad, but every idea I came up with had to be scrapped as I found to many faults with them.

I could tell Asuka was starting to get extremely worried about my health, especially as I nearly passed out when training with her yesterday after just a couple of warm ups. She very nearly went to find mum and Steve, but it was only when I started crying that she changed her mind, and instead forced me to go to my room and grab a few hours sleep. Needless to say, the second my head hit the pillow, I was asleep, and didn't wake up for about six hours, but the only reason I did wake up was because Hwoarang decided to jump onto my balcony and pay me a visit.

He tapped on the window, and I flew out of bed, readying myself in case it was someone trying to attack me. I relaxed immediately as I saw Hwoarang waving at me, giving me a cheeky grin. I sighed and smiled as I shook my head, before moving over to the sliding doors and unlock them to allow him access. He slid in and wrapped his arms around me. I allowed myself to relax for a moment, until he spoke.

"we need to talk. I want to ask you something"

I tensed as he pulled me over to the bed, and sat me down. He gently rubbed my back and I felt too tired to protest, so I just leant back against him.

"what did you want to ask me?" I whispered, not knowing if I really wanted to hear it.

"why did you really leave Korea that day? Why were you in England? Why are you really entering this tournament?"

"that was three questions"

He didn't answer, just gave me a steady look.

I sighed and clenched my fist, and for a minute, I contemplated not answering. Hwoarang must've noticed my hesitation as he gently used his finger to pull my chin so that I was facing him. He locked his teal eyes with my blue ones, all traces of humour gone, to be replaced with a genuine concern.

"please, Kerry. Let me in."

I broke down, told him everything, from Kazuya's threat down to the letter dad sent me that led to me being here now. By the time I finished, I could hardly speak as my throat had closed up and I couldn't get my words out. Hwoarang pulled me tightly into him and sat there, rocking me while I poured my heart out. I was surprised at how he was acting, as the Hwoarang I had been told about was uncaring, only interested in winning money and bedding girls, however the Hwoarang I had seen was he complete opposite, but I could see it every now and then when he went against certain other people.

I dried my eyes and thanked him for listening. I was truly grateful as so far, nobody, not even Steve, knew the entire story. Hwoarang stayed in my room a little longer, offering suggestions here and there about what I could do, claiming that he was coming with me every time I tried to tell him I was doing it alone. The fierce intensity of his gaze when he did that was enough to send my emotions into overdrive. I was definitely moving past the crush and fancy stage of our relationship, but it was too soon to be calling it love at the minute.

Of course, Hwoarang had to ruin the moment by reminding me about my match against Miguel. I scowled before moving over to my drawers and pulling out a pale blue sports vest and a pair of navy blue tracksuit bottoms. I threw them on before putting a pair of very thin sweatbands on either wrist. Hwoarang had his eyes closed while I was changing, but I wasn't stupid; I knew he'd had the odd sneak peek here and there, but then again, he was a bloke, so it was to be expected really.

We made it to the arena with around fifteen minutes to spare. I looked around to see Steve already there, as well as Asuka. I could also just make out Jin in the background, and as his eyes met mine, he gave me a very feint smile. I didn't respond to any of the friendly calls they made, as I was already in what I called 'game mode'. I moved onto the platform and began warming up, using various stretches from both martial arts, yoga and dance. I didn't have to wait long before Miguel turned up, looking as arrogant as always.

I sighed with frustration as I waited for Miguel to finally ready himself for the match, instead of flirting with anything with breasts that had turned up to watch. He noticed my glare for he just returned it with a smirk.

"fighters, ready yourselves" came the commentator.

I allowed myself to smile. Finally, I could take him down. The time had come. I stood there, with my legs slightly apart, my hands by my side. Miguel stood with one leg slightly behind the other, his hands clenched into fists and up, guarding his face. Typical, he would be the one to guard his face. I was definitely going to aim for it.

"ready? Fight!" came over the intercom.

I immediately sprang into action, kicking his hands out of their guard with one leg before immediately using my other leg to kick his chest, forcing him back onto the floor with a thump.

"yeah! That's my girl!" I heard Hwoarang say.

I blushed slightly at that as I blocked a couple of the street brawler's attacks. Something caught my eye, something silver. I glanced over and nearly collapsed with shock. Kazuya was standing to one side, virtually hidden, watching me, and he had my dad with him! Admittedly my dad looked extremely tired, beaten and underweight, but he was alive. Unfortunately, I took my attention of the match for a second, and next thing I knew a fist hit me in the face. I fell forward and saw my dad's eyes open in panic.

I glared, partially at Kazuya, partially at Miguel, but mainly at myself for allowing the distraction. I moved back to face Miguel and blocked one of his kicks, before punching him a, however, he grabbed my arm and slammed his knee and elbow into my back, causing me to cry out and fall down. I couldn't move and knew what was coming up.

"round 1 to Miguel"

Knew it. I groaned as I pulled myself up. Miguel sent me one of his smirks, and I just sent him a look that clearly told him to shut up, but he chose to ignore it.

"sorry, little girl, but I will be winning this match"

"little girl?"

I said it so quietly, he didn't hear me, but he noticed the anger showing on my face as he stepped back. I moved into my next stance, waiting for the signal to begin.

"round 2...fight!"

There it is. I didn't even give him a single chance to hit me, I just threw attack after attack at him. He grabbed my leg after one kick, but I used my balance to throw myself backwards and flip him over my head, flipping myself in the process.

The thing with that move is that I land on my feet every time. My opponent on the other hand…I smirked as I heard the crunch of him hitting the floor, and the satisfactory snap of something breaking. I turned back to look at him, and almost winced at the blood. Maybe I hit him too hard.

"round 2 goes to Kerrina Chaolan"

I didn't allow myself to cheer. I hadn't won yet, I still had another round to go. He could still win, but with the blood pouring down his face, it looked like I might just have it under the belt, but I couldn't get cocky. Not yet, not ever.

I dropped into my stance one last time. I knew he would be desperate to in as he had already lost one match, which meant he had to win this match to get to the next round. I could see the rage in his face, probably because I had marked his precious face. I glanced over to my dad, only to see him try to get away from kazuya, to be punched in the rib and collapse onto the floor. Why did no-one else see this? My eyes narrowed into an even deeper glare, that probably rivalled anything I had ever seen anyone do before, but I was so angry at that minute, I didn't care. The only thing stopping me from forfeiting the match was the fact that dad would be disappointed in me for giving it up for him. I could never do that.

"final round: fight!"

Shit, that caught me off guard, allowing Miguel to kick me in the rib. Damn, he got me straight in the one I broke on the day of the bombing a few months ago! I cried out as the pain surged through me, and I heard my dad call out my name. I looked over to him, to see Kazuya knock him out and have him bundled into the awaiting car, away from me.

"NOOOOO!!!!!" I screamed.

Desperate to get to him, I kicked Miguel straight in the temple, not noticing as her fell to the floor, completely unconscious, unaware of me being declared the winner, and oblivious to Hwoarang chasing after me with a look of worry on his face. Kazuya watched me with an amused smile before getting into the car himself and driving off just as I reached it. I only just managed to touch the boot before it sped off and I fell onto the floor with a pained cry.

I barely noticed as Hwoarang pulled me into him. The pain of watching my dad being taken away crushed me. I could almost feel my body completely giving up, breaking down due to the lack of food, sleep and the increase of pressure, and workload. I didn't even notice as I collapsed, partly due to exhaustion, partly due to malnutrition and partly due to my injuries sustained in my match. All I wanted to do was curl up and fade away. At least then I would be free from all this pain.


	17. Given Up?

_I had a great idea for this chapter, but I was listening to Linkin Park the other day, and as I heard this chorus, I thought it reflected Kerrina's situation perfectly, so viola! Enjoy, and as always, please drop a review if you have the time!_

_I've given up,_

_I'm sick of feeling,_

_Is there nothing you can say?_

_Take this all away,_

_I'm suffocating,_

_Tell me what the f***k is wrong with me?!_

I sat up with a yell. I could feel how hot it was and there was sweat all over my body, especially my back. How long had I been out for this time? How much time had I wasted, lying here when I could be saving my dad? Dad…

Hwoarang heard my yell as he came rushing in at that minute. As soon as he saw me, his eyes filled with relief and he threw his arms round me.

"thank god. I thought you were going to die!"

"wh…what?" I stuttered.

"you nearly died."

I looked at my bed and gently picked at the blanket, trying to feel something, but I felt nothing. No sadness, no guilt, only a feeling of anger.

"maybe it would have been better if I had died." I whispered.

I didn't think he heard that, by the way he pulled back and the look of anger on his face told me the opposite. He looked furious, as if her was ready to blow. Well, he did blow actually.

"you do realise that you nearly killed yourself!? I know you're worried about your dad and all, but seriously. Not sleeping or eating, then pushing your body to it's limits? How the hell do you expect to save him if you're dead?"

I calmly allowed him to say what he had to say, but by the end, enough was enough. It was time for me to show him the reason many people back home were afraid of me.

"he's dead anyway Hwoarang! I saw him! He was nearly unconscious, and all he was doing was standing there! STANDING! Do you know how it feels, watching a loved one standing in front of you, knowing that one wrong move and they'll be KILLED? Maybe if I'm dead, it won't be so bad. Maybe then, Kazuya will actually leave him alone as then at least he'll have one wish fulfilled! Don't you DARE say anything like that to me again! ESPECIALLY as you don't even know what it's like to watch someone you love DYING in front of your very eyes!"

As soon as I finished my rant, I crumbled into a fit of crying. My emotions were on overdrive, and it was scaring me. I nearly died, yet I didn't care anymore, and that terrified me more than anything. I couldn't breath properly, as if I was suffocating, yet I was breathing fine. What was going on with me? I felt Hwoarang's arms wrap round me, and I pulled him closer, sobbing as he tried to comfort me, whispering his apologies into my ear. As I finally calmed down, he looked deep into my eyes, and I saw the worry and remorse shining in his eyes.

"you're wrong about something there"

"what?"

"I do know what it feels like to see someone you love dying"

"really? Who, if you don't mind me asking."

He sighed and lowered his gaze as he pulled himself into control. He gazed back at me and gave me a sad smile.

"I watched my mother die, I saw my dad kill himself, and then, to see you so pale, so ill…it nearly killed me Kerry"

………………………………......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I think I did stop breathing then. Was he saying what I think he was saying? He turned his gaze back to me, this time, his eyes showing nothing but a warmth that I had often seen in my dad's eyes when he watched me. He lowered his mouth to my ear.

"I love you" he softly said.

My eyes filled with tears again, happiness this time. My god, someone other than my family told me they loved them! This was something I had never expected to hear. I pulled him into a tight embrace, before pulling him back slightly so I could kiss him.

"I love you too, fleabag" I joked.

He smirked at the nickname before pulling me into another kiss. I heard a cough coming from behind us, and I looked over to see Steve and mum walk into the room, mum with a smug smile on her face, Steve with a look of absolute shock on his. He knew we were a couple, but had yet to see anything that confirmed it.

I looked at Steve's face, and had to fight back the laugh that I felt brewing up in my stomach.

"um, Steve? You might want to close your mouth. It's not very attractive"

Hwoarang laughed at that before settling himself next to me on the bed, wrapping a protective arm round my shoulders. I think he was relieved that our little spat had knocked my senses back into me. God, I needed it. Steve moved over to give me a warm hug, and even mum laid a hand on my arm, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"has Hwoarang told you how the news?" Steve asked.

"considering what they were doing as we walked in, do you really think he has?" mum asked him sarcastically.

I tensed up, what news? I asked and they all gave me sympathetic looks. Mum and Hwoarang both went to speak at the same time, but I think Hwoarang knew I would take it better from mum as he closed his mouth and motioned for her to continue.

"you've been out for five days, Kerrina"

Oh, no. five days? My match after progressing to the next round was two days ago! That meant my dad…oh no.

"No, No, No. y…you have to be k…kidding, right? Right?"

Mum gave me another sympathetic look and I burst out crying again, burying my head into Hwoarang's chest. I was out of the tournament. My dad was dead. I felt another hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Steve smiling at me.

"what are you smiling at?" I growled.

"there is some good news that mum didn't tell you. When he found out what happened, Kazuya approached me and Hwoarang here, and gave us a compromise. He'll keep your dad alive until we are knocked out, meaning that you still have a chance of finding him"

I felt a huge wave of love run through me at that point. My newly found brother and the only recently discovered love of my life had done that for me? I pulled them both into a hug, squeezing them as hard as I could. As soon as I let them go, I sat up fully and began to move off my bed.

"where do you think you're going?" Hwoarang asked.

"well, I can't save my dad sitting here all day can I?"

Everyone laughed at that, and before long, my discharge letters had been signed and dealt with, and I was on my way back to the hotel.

I still had time left. This time, there was no room for mistakes. I was going to find my dad, and I was going to defeat Kazuya. Nothing was going to stop me this time.

Upon returning back to the hotel, I was met by an overactive Asuka, who threw herself on me, almost suffocating me.

"my god! Are you ok?" she yelled.

"I will be as soon as you stop chocking me and trying to make me go deaf" I managed to choke out.

She released me, giving me an apology alongside and embarrassed smile. I returned it with a smile of my own before turning to Julia, who had been waiting for me with Asuka and giving her a hug, no where near as frantic as the one Asuka had given me. I noticed Hwoarang come up to me out of the corner of my eyes, but he didn't say anything, just took my hotel key out of my back pocket and gave me a kiss, telling me to spend some time relaxing with the girls as he disappeared upstairs.

Julia watched him go, with her mouth dropped open in surprise. I raised an eyebrow at that before asking her what the big shock was.

"you and Hwoarang are…?"

"yeah. It only really became official today, but it's been going for a while now"

"don't let Lili know. She'll kill you. She's been waiting to get her claws into him ever since she first set eyes on him."

"that bimbo? Kerrina could take her on no problem!" Asuka stated, flashing us the victory sign.

Julia and I looked at each other, and at Asuka before the three of us fell into peals of laughter, ending up with me leaning against the wall for support, Asuka kneeling on the floor crying and Julia bent over double cradling her stomach with laughter.

I calmed down enough to notice a few people were giving us funny looks. I then saw someone I didn't really want to see giving me a dirty look. Miguel. He caught my gaze and marched over.

"you! How dare you beat me then not turn up for any more matches! You're pathetic"" he spat

I sighed, and without saying anything, just punched him, hard enough to break his nose and knock him to the floor, but not enough to knock him out cold.

"I really don't have the patience for you" I growled.

I turned back to Asuka and Julia, who both burst out laughing again. Someone came up behind me and I span round, half expecting another fight, but opening my eyes in surprise to see Jin smiling down at me.

"do you have a moment? If you're not too busy knocking people out anyway" he asked.

I laughed slightly, and moved over to a quieter part of the room with him, ignoring the laughter still coming from the other two who were both now on the floor, leaning on each other for support. I rolled my eyes before turning back to my cousin.

"what was it you wanted?" I asked.

"are you really ok?" he asked me, with genuine concern.

"I'll be fine. I just need to find my dad" I replied.

"I can help you. When the time comes, I will help you. The best time to find him would be during Kazuya's match with the tournament winner."

"how did you know…?""I know everything that bastard does"

I gave him a quick hug, before noticing Hwoarang re-entering the room. I pulled away and thanked him before waving goodbye to the two girls, who had stopped laughing, but were still giggling. They waved weakly back, and as I reached Hwoarang he looked at me in confusion.

"I leave and everything's normal, I come back to find them two on the floor laughing, Miguel on the floor with blood gushing out of his nose, and you having a calm conversation with Kazama? What's going on?"

As we moved up to our rooms, I filled him in on the events and he laughed, especially at the point I recalled punching Miguel. I moved to go to my room, but Hwoarang pulled me to his instead.

"Hwoarang? I'm in this room, remember?"

"not anymore"

I was confused at that, but as Hwoarang opened the door, I saw immediately that my stuff had been moved into his room. Everything like my brush and my poster of Nickelback that I took everywhere were in the exact places they had been in my room, and when I opened my drawers, everything had been neatly put away, my stuff on one side, his in the other.

"ok, explain."

"well, you need someone to help you right? You need help sleeping and help coming up with a plan. It's better to have me with you to help at all times, so I moved you in with me."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just kissed him and hugged him, resting my head on his chest, smiling as he rested his cheek on top of my head.

"thank you" I whispered.

I wasn't giving up. Not now, not ever.


	18. Freedom, but is it really over?

I woke up the following morning, and smiled as I felt a pair of arms wrapped around my waist, accompanied with the sounds of soft breathing along with the feeling of said breath tickling the back of my neck. I had never woken up next to someone before, and I have to admit, it was one of the best feelings I had ever felt in my life. I turned to face him, so that I didn't wake him up, and studied his sleeping features. He looked so young when asleep. His red hair fell across his face, and his mouth was very slightly parted. I smiled warmly as I watched him.

After a few minutes, I felt my stomach growl, so I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and threw on some clothes before slipping out of the room and heading down to the cafeteria for some breakfast, glad that I hadn't woken him. As I entered the cafeteria, I looked up at the clock to see that it was barely 6am, meaning that as there were no matches due to the fact it was Sunday, nearly everybody would still be sleeping like Hwoarang was, which also meant I would probably be the only one down here, or even if I wasn't the only one, there wouldn't be many people.

I was right in the fact that there weren't many people. In fact there were only three; Jin, and two others I hadn't met yet. One was some really tall, muscular guy wearing a lion's head mask thing, and the other person was a man with a strange cross shaped scar on his face. I nodded a small greeting to the strange men, before moving over to the fridges and pulling out a small carton of milk. I then grabbed a box of rice crispies and two bananas, before moving over to the table where Jin sat.

"good morning" he greeted.

"mornin'. mind if I sit here?" I asked.

"of course."

I put my food on the table and grabbed a bowl from one of the other stands before sitting down. I put my cereal into the bowl and sliced up one of the bananas, dropping the slices into the cereal before adding the milk. As I took my first bite, I closed my eyes in happiness. I'd forgotten just how much I loved that combination, but as rice crispies were extremely difficult to find in Korea, I rarely got to eat it.

"I take it you're enjoying that?"

I looked up at Jin and smiled, before explaining about not being able to get it in Korea. He gave a small laugh.

"well, maybe when you return home, I'll send you a few boxes every now and again"

"I would seriously love you forever if you could do that" I joked.

We had hardly spoken, yet sitting there, just sharing a casual conversation with him made me realise that I was quickly growing fond of him, just as I had done with Steve and my mum. It seemed like one half of my family were just bastards, whereas the other half seemed to genuinely be nice and care about each other.

Once I finished my cereal and fruit, I dumped the rubbish in the bin and put the bowl onto the tray for dirty dishes before grabbing a couple of cartons of fruit juice; tropical juice for me, orange for Hwoarang. I turned back to Jin to ask if he wanted anything but he assured me that he had eaten his full and was ok, so I bade him a quick farewell before hurrying up to my room again.

As I entered, I looked over to the bed to see Hwoarang hadn't moved an inch since I had left. I sniggered to myself before putting his juice into the mini fridge, and drinking mine. I threw the empty carton in the bin before moving into the bathroom and grabbing a shower. When I emerged from my shower and dressed, Hwoarang still hadn't moved. Half of me wanted to stay and relax, but the other half was desperate to go out and train, or come up with a new plan to rescue dad. In the end, I decided to stay, as I realised now that I would need all the help I could get to save my dad. Not only that, but I realised how stupid I had been to push myself to the limit like that, and I secretly vowed to never do that to myself again.

I chose to do my favourite thing in the world- sit on the balcony. I grabbed a pen and my notebook before going out, and once I was comfortably seated, I began writing, mainly a couple of poems, but also stupid and random things such as a small shopping list and how many people I wanted to fight to prove a point and why. The second list came out as follows:

~ Anna- lied to me all my life/ cheated on dad

~Kazuya- need I explain?

~Lili- not only insulted me, but tried to flirt with Hwoarang even though she knows he's my partner

~Sergei- come on. Any guy wanting world domination deserved to be smacked down

~Runo- again, need I explain?

~Miguel- just because I feel like it.

I was so busy writing my list that I didn't hear the sound of the door sliding open and shut again, and I also didn't hear the sounds of feet shuffling over to me. It wasn't until he spoke that I even realised he was there.

"wow. That sure is a lot of people"

"Hwoarang! Don't bloody do that!" I yelled.

He laughed before wrapping his arms round me and giving me a soft kiss. I noticed that his hair was damp and his skin smelt softly of spices, so I guessed he had been up a while. I looked at my watch and my eyes widened as I realised that I had actually been out there for nearly two hours, and hadn't even noticed.

Hwoarang pulled me to him again, and kissed me again, moving his hand to take my notebook off me and lay it on the table next to us. As soon as my hand was free, I laced my hands in his hair, deepening the kiss, as he wrapped his arms round my waist, crushing me against him. When we pulled apart, I smiled at him, and he returned it.

"now that's a good morning kiss" he joked.

I laughed at that, and pulled him in for another kiss, but just as I did, there was a loud hammering on the door, forcing us apart. Hwoarang growled before storming over to the door and wrenching it open.

"look man, me and the misses are kinda busy…oh my god. Kerry! Get out here!"

As soon as I heard him say that, I ran into the room to see Hwoarang catch someone as they collapsed. My hands flew to my mouth as I gasped in shock at the sight.

"dad!"

I couldn't believe it, what was going on?

I helped Hwoarang move him over to the bed, before telling him to go and get Steve to bring his car round to the front of the hotel and help us get my dad to the hospital. As soon as Hwoarang had gone, I rushed over to dad, just as he began to open his eyes.

"Kerry…" he croaked.

I blinked back a few tears before stroking the side of his face.

"ssh. I'm here dad. But, how…?"

"I managed to escape. Lucky for me they had some novice on duty who didn't know how to fight."

I smiled, and a lone tear slid down my cheek as his head fell to the side again and he closed his eyes. My eyes trailed down the rest of him, and stopped in horror as I noticed a wide bloodstain soaking the side of his shirt. I gently peeled the shirt back to see a long, wide and deep gash adorning his side. I winced as I saw it, but before I could do anything, Hwoarang and Steve ran into the room.

The next few hours were a blur. All I could think about was how bad a state dad had been in when he collapsed, and how I was going to get revenge if it was the last thing I did. Steve was sitting next to me in the waiting room, his chin resting on his hands. He hadn't moved since we first got here nearly five hours ago. Hwoarang had just left for the third time for a cigarette, and I just sat in my chair, staring at the light above the door signalling that the operation was still going on. Mum was here too, I couldn't see her, but I could feel her, meaning that she was nearby.

The light suddenly switched off above the door of the theatre and a few minutes later, the surgeon emerged, and came straight over to us.

"are you two the family of Mr Chaolan?" he asked.

"yes, we're his children" I answered.

"well, I'm pleased to say he'll be fine. He was severely malnourished, and had many fractures and cuts all over his body, some that hadn't healed, so we've patched him up as best we can, and we'll be moving him to a side room in a few moments."

I couldn't answer. My throat closed up at that moment. My dad was safe. He was going to be ok. Steve noticed the emotion in my eyes, as it was he who answered the surgeon.

"thank you. Thank you so much."

The surgeon nodded before telling us that we could go and see dad straight away. Hwoarang came back in at that moment and put his arm round me. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed deeply.

Dad was safe. He was alive.

But, despite that, I knew one thing:

Kazuya was going to pay


	19. First Time

The three of us followed the surgeon as he led us to dad's room. As we stopped outside it, he told us we could only go in one at a time. Without even saying anything, I knew I was going in first. I stepped into the room and wiped my eyes as I saw my dad. He was awake, barely, but enough to give me a smile and wave me over. I edged over to the bed and he pulled me into a hug. I hugged back, before drawing back and slapping him round the face.

"what the hell!"

"you promised! You said you'd stay safe, and you didn't!" I called back.

Dad kept looking at me with his eyes open in shock, before he threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. I laughed with him, and gave him another warm hug.

"I'm glad you're safe though"

"so am I" he answered.

I stayed with him for a couple of minutes, before leaving so that Steve could go in and see his dad as his dad for the first time in his life. As I moved out of the room, I saw Hwoarang sitting in a chair, staring out of the window, not really paying any attention to anything. I crept up behind him and wrapped my arms round him, resting my head on his shoulder. I could feel his smile as he turned his head slightly to look at me. I raised my eyes to meet his and he smiled.

"you ok?" he asked.

"I would say yes but I know you won't believe me"

He just raised an eyebrow at that and smirked, confirming my statement. I swear, the guy was like an emotion magnet or something. I sighed and kissed the side of his throat before settling onto his lap and leaning against him.

"no, I'm not ok" I sighed.

"why?"

"it's just…I can't help but feel something's not right, you know? Like this is all part of Kazuya's plan and that he's going to strike again. I've just got a horrible feeling in my gut"

"well, tell that feeling to piss off. I don't want it springing up later and ruining my plans for tonight"

"why? What's going on tonight?"

He just smiled at me, refusing to give me any details, so I fondly punched his shoulder and started laughing.

Steve came out at that moment with a wide smile on his face, his eyes sparkling. He came over to us and I got up to give him a hug.

"I guess it went well?"

"he's my dad all right!" he joked.

I laughed at that. Even Hwoarang could tell they were related. Just to listen to them talking would tell anybody that. I gave my brother another hug before poking my head into dad's room. He looked like he was about to sleep so I just sent him a wave and gave him a kiss on the cheek, telling him we were heading back to the hotel and would be back tomorrow to see him.

"ok. Be careful honey"

"I will. And dad, if anything seems remotely suspicious, ring me"

Once I said that, I softly shut the door behind me before grabbing Hwoarang's hand and pulling his fat ass off the chair. We all jumped into Steve's car and before long we found ourselves at the hotel. The first thing Steve did was head to the cafeteria, as he hadn't eaten anything all day. I headed over to the gym where I could hear Asuka and Julia talking, but Hwoarang's arms hooking underneath me and picking me up stopped me.

"Hwoarang? What are you doing?"

"you'll see"

He carried me up to our room, and the second the door was shut, his lips were pressing gently onto mine as he lowered me onto the bed. So that was his game was it? I wrapped my arms round him and pulled him closer, before moving my hands down his shirt to take it off. He pulled my top off after I removed his, and one of his hands moved to gently cup my bra-covered breast, before it slid to my back to remove the bra.

I sucked in a breath as he began teasing each breast, only stopping to kiss my lips again here and there. He moaned as I teased him by 'accidentally' stroking my knee against his crotch, and he deepened the kiss. He moved his hands down to remove my pants and trousers, and I swallowed the lump in my throat as he removed his trousers too. He moved back down to kiss me, and suddenly stopped.

"are you ok?" he asked, worry shining in his eyes.

It was then that I realised that I was actually shaking. This was my first time, after all, so I was nervous, but I was also shivering with excitement. I had always wanted to wait for the right guy, and I don't think anyone was as good for me as he was.

"I'm fine. Just nervous. First time and all"

"ah. I promise I'll be gentle"

I saw the care shining in his eyes and kissed him. Before long, he had put a condom on and was preparing to enter me. I was ok at first but then he reached my barrier.

"sorry babe, but I have to push through it"

I tightened my grip on his shoulders and as he broke through, I cried out in pain, squeezing my eyes shut and digging my nails into him, causing him to groan, but whether it was pain or pleasure, I don't know. All I know is that once I adjusted to him, I relaxed and he began to move, slowly at first, then speeding up. I cried out in pleasure as I climaxed, and even he called my name out.

He collapsed on top of me when he finished, and once he caught his breath back and threw the condom away, he propped himself up on one arm and stroked a streak off hair back off my face, before kissing me.

"god, you're beautiful. What did I do to deserve you?" he said.

I smiled at him and pulled him in for another kiss.

"I don't know. Maybe someone up there decided to give us a break from all the shit that's been thrown at us over the years" I whispered.

He smirked at that, before rolling off me and pulling me to him. I lay my head against his chest, and before long I found myself drifting off into the best sleep I had since the day I flew out to England, nearly four and a half months ago now.

When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted with a goofy, sleepy smile from my counterpart.

"morning princess."

"mmm. Mornin'"

He gave me another smile, but it was cut off as he yawned. He stood up and moved over to the closed door to go out onto the balcony and have a cigarette. Just as he reached the door, that was blanked out by the blinds, I called out to him.

"Hwoarang?"

"yeah?"

I held out one of the blankets that was on the bed, and he took it off me, understanding what I was saying.

"heh. Thanks babe" he said, stooping to kiss my cheek.

As he wrapped the blanket round his waist and moved out of the room, I let out a contented sigh. Dad was fine, I was in love, I had a caring family (for the most part) and I had lost my virginity to the man I adored. Needless to say, at that moment, I felt the happiest I had ever been in my life.

A knock at the door brought me back to earth. Making sure to wrap my dressing gown tightly around me, I opened it to see Steve standing there. Did my family have an inner alarm or something that told them when I had just done something even slightly sexual? I invited him in, as he told me mum had just rung him and told him to come to my room. As I shut the door, my phone rang, and Steve answered it, ignoring my protest that it was my phone.

"hello? Hey mum"

I couldn't hear what mum said, but Steve's face changed from being smiley, to all of a sudden it dropped, and his eyes widened in shock, before narrowing into a glare.

"I'll tell her" he finished before shutting the phone.

He looked at me, and I immediately knew something terrible had happened. His eyes were downcast, but I could see the tears as well as the anger and hatred showing in them.

"Steve, what's going on?"

"dad. They've taken him."


	20. Gotta hate gut instincts

Hwoarang chose to walk in at that moment. He obviously didn't notice the look on my face as he waved to Steve.

"hey Steve, what's up?" he cheerfully called.

Steve gave him a really weak smile, and Hwoarang's cheerful mood sobered. He turned a confused look to me, but I said nothing. I was clenching my fists so tightly, I could feel the nails break skin and draw blood. I felt Steve's hand on my shoulder, and something in me snapped. I shoved him, causing him to hit his back off the wardrobe, before grabbing my clothes off the chair in the corner and moving into the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking it behind me.

I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I could hear the pair of them talking, probably Steve telling Hwoarang what had happened.

"WHAT!?" I heard.

I knew that was Hwoarang. I switched the shower on and stepped under it. As I felt the water run down my body, the anger suddenly hit me. With all my strength, I drew my hand back and punched the tiles as hard as I physically could. I felt the tile crack as my fist went straight through it, splitting my skin open in a few places. I sank to the bottom of the stall, and sobbed, cradling my hand to me as it was now pouring blood from the deep cuts on it.

I vaguely recall hearing a smash, and the next thing I knew, Hwoarang was scooping me up in his arms, cradling me to him, and yelling at Steve to call an ambulance. I didn't move or say anything, just sobbed as he sat down and hugged me, pulling a blanket over me to cover my modesty. Steve came back up to the room, and Hwoarang lifted me up again. As he moved out of the hotel room, he told Steve to pack a set of clothes in a bag for me. I was still crying, I couldn't stop it. My emotions were totally spinning out of control, and I couldn't help it. As Hwoarang reached the ambulance and put me in it, I heard someone call my name, but I couldn't respond.

By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital, I had been sedated by the paramedic, so I was asleep as I was brought into the ER. I woke up to the feeling of someone stroking my left hand, and I could hear two people talking.

"…react like that. It was scary" I heard.

"can you blame her though?"

I opened my eyes, and let out a moan. The person stroking my left hand stopped, and the conversation that I heard also stopped. I looked over to my left, and Hwoarang gave me a soft smile, kissing my forehead and returning to hold my left hand with his. I looked in front of me to see who the other two people were and saw it was Steve and, to my shock, Leah and Sask!

"Leah? Sask?"

They both replied by giving me smiles. Leah stepped forward and threw her arms round me before bursting into tears. I moved to wrap both my arms round her but hissed as my right hand touched her. I looked down and saw how bad my hand looked and winced. Leah pulled away to wipe her tears and Sask hugged her to give her some comfort.

"Hwoarang- what happened?"

Hwoarang didn't answer at first, as a doctor walked in to tell us that he would be there shortly to stitch my hand up. As he left, Hwoarang faced me again.

"well, once you stopped crying, you went calm for a minute, then all of a sudden, you started screaming and thrashing about- the paramedics had to sedate you." he said.

Wow. This thing with dad really wound me up. Well, I don't think anyone would've handled the situation well, but most people probably wouldn't have punched a tiled wall like I was stupid enough to do. I suddenly realised that I had been brought in naked, but when I looked down I was wearing my clothes. Hwoarang noticed my look as he told me that he had dressed me while I was sleeping.

The doctor walked back in and gave me an apologetic smile before starting to clean my hand. The first thing he did was soak it in warm water for a bit to soften the skin and remove some of the tile dust and small pieces of tile stuck in the wounds. He then removed a few larger shards before deeming my hand ready to clean.

I yelped as he applied the first drop of antiseptic on my hand. Damn, that stung like a bitch! Steve had discreetly removed himself from the cubicle once the doctor took the needle out to stitch the two worst cuts. He hated needles, I remember reading that once, back when I had been a fan girl. I gripped Hwoarang's hand as the needle went in and had to bite down on my lip to stop the tears of pain that were building up. If he he'd just stitched it, I wouldn't have had a problem, it was just the prodding out the pieces and then applying antiseptic to it had made my hand a little sensitive. I gripped Hwoarang's hand tighter as the pain grew, and when the doctor finally finished, I think Hwoarang was as relieved as I was. I apologised to him and he just gave me his cocky smile that I fell in love with all those moths ago, that caused the butterflies to return to my stomach with a vengeance. As the doctor went of to retrieve a bandage, I sent the guys to go out and grab some fresh air, which they gladly did.

A few minutes after they left, I saw the curtain open, and mum stepped in. she looked around to make sure no-one was looking before coming up to me and awkwardly wrapping her arms round me. I felt the tears build up again but forced them back. Instead, I hugged her back with my good arm. As she moved back, she gave me a small smile, that I returned. The minute didn't last for long though.

As I looked behind her, the smile dropped off my face. Standing just outside my cubicle with a sadistic smile on his face, was none other than Kazuya. I flew out of the bed and launched myself at him, screaming all the profanities I could. As I reached him though, his smile vanished and with almost super-human speed, his arm stretched out and he grabbed me by the throat, pulling me closer to him. I started chocking as his grip tightened, and I clawed at his throat.

"stay there Nina, or your child dies"

He turned his gaze back to me.

"you listen to me, whelp. Your father may have escaped me once, but I can assure you, in his state, he won't be doing it again, and if you even think about stopping me…"

He finished his threat by giving my throat one last squeeze before loosening his grip slightly, still holding on to me. I coughed loudly, only just hearing the nurse's cry for security and the police. I could feel myself starting to pass out, and I gave one last effort to free myself. Kazuya just smiled before backhanding me across the face with his free arm. He raised his arm to do it again, but just as the blow landed, a fist came flying out of nowhere and slammed into his face, sending him flying and me crashing to the floor. As soon as I landed, a pair of arms lifted me up, and I turned my eyes up to see Hwoarang glaring at Kazuya with all the hatred he possessed.

It was then that I noticed that the person that had punched Kazuya was mum! Apparently, he was so occupied with hurting me, he forgot all about her being there. I thankfully managed to stop myself from passing out and regain my bearings as Hwoarang lay me back down on the bed I had previously been on. Kazuya picked himself off the floor, and Hwoarang spun round so that his back was to me, so that he could protect me. Steve and mum also stepped in front of me, and Sask and Leah came to stand next to me, Leah with her arms round me in fear. Kazuya must've decided that as there were three VERY pissed off martial artists blocking him, it was best to leave, so he quickly ran out of the hospital, knocking a few people over as he did.

The very shaken up doctor came back into my cubicle, and as everybody calmed down, he bandaged my hand that had started bleeding again, before putting an ice pack on my throat that had been burnt slightly. As Kazuya had squeezed my throat, what could only be described as lightening bolts trailed down his arms, scorching my neck. I also had a bruise on my cheek from where he hit me. Hwoarang turned to the doctor, and as I felt myself fall asleep, I heard him speak.

"is she going to be discharged today?"

"I think it'd be best to keep her here for observation tonight. You may stay if you wish."

"we all will" I heard mum say. "she's never going to be on her own again if I can help it"

Even though I was virtually asleep, I felt a smile appear on my face after hearing that. I don't remember anything after that, as my body finally gave out, forcing me into the land of dreams.


	21. Hwoarang's POV

_I've decided to do this chapter slightly differently- I'm writing it in Hwoarang's pov just for a bit of fun. Also, I didn't plan it to, but this chapter contains more than just references to lime, so if you don't like it, then read up until the break, and then skip to the end where the break ends. If you really don't want to, then I'll fill you in on what you missed at the start of the next chapter._

Kerry was discharged the following day, sent back with painkillers for her hand and neck that had developed small blisters all over it from when Kazuya scorched her. When I got my hands on that bastard, I'm going to kill him. Kerry was also given the instruction that she wasn't to use my hand for any strenuous activities (such as fighting, the doctor said after I suggested more 'productive' strenuous activities) for a week. Great.

I left the hospital about an hour before Kerry and Steve, as I had been at the hospital all night with Kerry, and desperately needed a shower before she got back. I heard a knock on the door and as I opened it, I had Kerry barge past me and into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her, a look of thunder on her face. Knowing full well the reason behind the look, I turned an eyebrow up to Steve.

"explain"

He glanced down at the floor before looking back up again.

"all I did was warned her not to screw you for a week" he said.

I bit back a laugh at that, knowing full well that if Kerry heard me laugh, I'd probably end up sleeping on the balcony for the next god-knows how long.

So, instead of laughing like I really wanted to, I smirked and gave Steve a friendly pat on the back before pretending to chastise him over what he had said, and shutting the door in his face, giving him a friendly wink as I did to show him I wasn't being serious. He gave me a smile before I heard him walk off. I took a deep breath and turned to face the bathroom, or as I though of it at that minute, my impending doom. I knocked, and waited for an answer.

"Go away Steve"

"hey babe, it's only me. Blondey left a few seconds ago"

I heard shuffling from behind the door, before the unmistakable sound of the door unlocking. She came out, and I could see she had clearly been crying, but was trying to hide it. It worried me. This wasn't the strong, feisty girl I had fallen for back in Korea. This was a weak and defenceless girl. She looked up at me, and my breath hitched as I saw the hurt in them. As she leant forward, I pulled my arms round her. The first time I held her like this after she broke down crying, a strange feeling fluttered in my stomach. I hated it at first as it made me feel strange, but each time I held her, the feeling grew, and it wasn't until now, after I had made love to her, that I finally understood what it finally was. Seeing her so helpless and defenceless hurt me, both physically and emotionally, and all he wanted to do was take the pain away, protect her.

I loved her. It had taken me a long time to realise, but standing here now, with my arms wrapped round her, I felt as if this is where I belonged, where I should always belong. She looked up at me then, and I couldn't stop myself from lowering my head down and capturing her soft lips into a kiss. She kissed back, and as I pulled away, she rested her head on my chest, letting out a soft sigh.

If the guys back home heard about this, I would never hear the end of it. Hwoarang, the notorious a ladies man who wouldn't know what commitment was if it jumped up and smacked him in the face, had found the girl he wanted to be with for the rest of his life, and had no intention of ever going back to his previous life of shagging a girl and leaving before she had even had time to get out of bed. It was just his way, but no more. From now on, he was only going to be there for Kerry.

She looked up at me again, and I gave her one of my smirks, smirking even wider when she turned her eyes away for that split second. I reached out to move a piece of hair off her face, but as soon as my hand was in the air, I felt something tug on my own hair, and my face was lurched forward as she pulled me in for another kiss, but deeper this time. I groaned as I pushed my tongue into her mouth, and groaned even louder as she did something she had never done before, she started sucking on it. Each time the pressure of her mouth increased, a jolt of 'something' travelled down my body to certain parts.

(AN- Stop reading here if you don't like lime. Continue down the page until the next line of dots)

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She completely surprised me with her next actions, the most I could do was stand there with my mouth open. However my eyes closed and I took a huge gasp as it felt good. Without warning she just reached down and gently grasped my crotch, squeezing it a couple of times. oh my god, that felt so fucking good!

"mmm…babe, the doctor…warned…"

"I don't care. I need you" she whispered.

She removed her hand before pulling me into a kiss, undoing my shirt buttons before pushing it off my arms. I reached up and grasped her arms, resting her hands on my shoulders before doing the same to her with my arms. I then gently ran my thumbs over her shoulder, smiling when she closed her eyes and lay her ahead on my chest again. I swallowed down the comment sitting in my throat, and continued moving my hands down past her breasts, to her stomach, until finally they rested above the hemline of her jeans.

I've never had confidence issues when sleeping with women, but as I found out the other night, there is a big difference between sleeping with someone and actually making love to someone. Right now, I was going to make love to Kerry. It would never just be sex with her. I pushed her jeans down part way and then pushed her female boxers down. She gasped as I confidently moved one of my hands in between her legs and began massaging her while my other hand trailed back up her body to remove her shirt. As soon as her shirt was off as well as her bra, I gently tilted her head back to kiss her throat, and making her moan ever so softly into my ear.

I felt her body sway backwards, and without stopping what my hand was doing between her legs, I gently lowered her onto the bed, immediately moving my head down to tease each of her breasts, grinning when her moan increased slightly in volume and length. I could feel her beginning to tense as her release began, and so, I stopped, pulling my hand away. I groaned myself as my erection was actually beginning to hurt thanks to my jeans pressing on it. She must've noticed as she began undoing them, admittedly with a slightly embarrassed look on her face as my length was released. I groaned and pulled her closer to me, kissing her with as much passion as I could. Thankfully, she responded with just as much passion.

This time, the sex was purely passion filled, not tender as it had been the first time. Her first time. I still couldn't get over that she had chosen me of all people to be her first. How did she know that I would still be there when she woke the following morning? I had been though, and always would be. She'd never be alone as long as I was there for her.

Once we had both climaxed, we lay next to each other, Kerry laying across my body, gently playing with one of my nipples, oblivious to what it was doing to me 'down there'. to distract myself, I noticed that she had her injured hand laying on top of my chest. I gently held it and checked for any damage.

"hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it. See? No harm done"

I smiled, satisfied that I hadn't hurt her. She gave me a warm smile back, before returning to what she had been doing. The movement was actually lulling me to sleep, but when I suddenly felt something hot and wet on replacing her hand, I woke with a start. What the…she was actually teasing my nipple with her mouth? Well, well. It seemed little miss shy wasn't so shy when we were already naked.

"and just what do you think you're doing miss?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow at that, before giving me a sultry smile and continuing what she was doing. I felt her hand slide down my body before suddenly stroking me. I sat bolt upright, but she didn't stop, only smiled as she increased her speed, sending me further and further to the edge. I didn't let her send me all the way though. Letting out as feral a growl as I could without my voice squeaking, I grasped her waist and pulled her onto me, sliding into her all in one swift movement. She looked surprised at first, but I gently moved my hips upwards, and her surprise turned into a lustful gasp as she caught on to my rhythm and slowly sped up.

Before long, I suddenly tensed and groaned out her name as I felt my release. I didn't stop thrusting though, as less than a few seconds later, she followed after me, screaming my name before crushing her lips onto mine as she collapsed on top of me. I rolled so that she was lying next to me and gently stroked her hair as she drifted off into a light sleep.

………………………………......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It wasn't until about an hour later as I was watching her chest rise and fall in a rhythmic motion and reminding myself just how much I loved her, that it suddenly hit me, and nearly sent me into a blind panic. We hadn't used any protection.

I sat bolt upright and felt Kerry stir before she opened her eyes and gave me a confused look.

"what's up?" she asked.

I told her the situation and she opened her eyes in shock.

"oh my god! What are we going to do?"

I kissed her, and even though I had a strange feeling that my next words could one day come back and kick me in the face, spoke.

"don't worry. It'll be fine."

"I hope so" she sighed.

She gave me another kiss before moving to grab a shower. I suggested joining her, and her only answer was to slam the door playfully and lock it. I guess she was still shy about certain things.

I shrugged to myself before moving to get dressed. As Kerry moved out of the shower, I moved out onto the balcony, and a few minutes later I felt her slide up behind me and wrap her arms round me. I pulled her round so that her back was to me, and pulled her against me so that her back was against my chest and I could comfortably lean my chin on her head. We stood there, watching the world go by, and watching the sun setting afterwards. I kissed the top of Kerry's head and she sighed again. Again, I felt the emotion build up in me, and before I knew it, I blurted out the one thing I had been avoiding for the past few days.

"I love you" I whispered.

She stiffened up as I said that, and I watched as she turned to face me, shock in her eyes. I watched her as a range of emotions flooded through her eyes, and I unknowingly held my breath as she opened her mouth to respond.


	22. Admittance of love and lessons from mum

_Back to Kerry's pov now, may not go back to Hwoarang's again, we'll see. Hopefully the story will be finished within the next eight chapters- I think 30 chapters is a good number!_

"I love you"

I took a step back, and I felt my eyes and mouth open wide in shock. My god, had he really just admitted that to me? I couldn't believe it. I saw his shoulders and face drop at my reaction, and he turned to walk away.

Suddenly, my legs kicked into action just as he opened the door to go back into our hotel room.

"Hwoarang!"

He barely had time to turn before I threw myself at him, jumping into his arms and wrapping my legs round his waist as I grabbed his face and pulled him into our most passion filled kiss yet. He walked over to the bed and dropped me on it, following less than a second later, smothering me with kisses. As he pulled away, we were both panting for air. I reached up and gently stroked the side of his face.

"wanna know something, flame head?" I asked.

His eyes sparkled with unspoken laughter as he nodded. I moved the hand on the side of his face to the back of his head and pulled him closer so that my mouth was next to his ear.

"I love you too" I whispered.

As soon as I said that, his eyes opened and he gazed at me with a look of pure happiness. I smiled at him again as he gave me another kiss. The kiss was short lived though as the door knocked. I growled at the door.

"what!?"

"hello too miss cranky pants." came the cheeky reply.

Asuka. I pulled away from Hwoarang, who gave me the puppy eyed look, before rolling my eyes and opening the door. Asuka gave me a wide grin and gave me a big hug. I returned it, not really knowing how to respond, except to pat her friend a couple of times on the back.

"what's up?" I asked.

"oh, me and Julia were just wondering if you wanted to join our sparring session in a minute., but if we're interrupting anything…"

Hwoarang came up behind me and pulled me into him, before kissing the side of my neck, causing me to blush and giggle.

"actually, you were interrupting" he said.

He began to close the door, but I was able to call through just before it closed that I would join them in a while. As soon as the door clicked shut, Hwoarang lifted my top off and started pulling me towards the bed, kissing my neck the whole time.

About an hour later, I met the two girls downstairs, and after giving them both playful swats on the arms for their faces about mine and Hwoarang's 'activities'. they both started laughing before continuing their sparring match. After a few minutes, Julia turned to me and asked if I wanted to join the match. I smiled and raised my arm to show I couldn't use it. She gave me a guilty smile for forgetting, but I shrugged it off. After a while though, I decided to join in anyway, just keeping my arm firmly out the way.

I started stretching and within ten minutes, I was fully launched into the fight, and enjoying every second of it. I was just about to kick Asuka, when Julia accidentally tripped me up, and I fell to the floor, crying out when my right arm landed on the floor and I hit my bad hand. The two of them came rushing over to make sure I was ok, but I just pushed them off and continued the fight, even though my hand was throbbing. Within seconds, the spar was back in full flow, and I was just about to punch Asuka when…

"Kerrina Jade Chaolan!"

I flinched and turned to face me mum giving her a sheepish look. She returned it with a scathing look.

"get over here, now."

I moved over to her, and she grabbed my good arm and dragged me out of the room.

She pulled me down the hall until we came across an office that was empty. Mum shoved me into it, and I barely had time to stop myself from crashing into the desk before she was slamming the door shut behind her and pushing me down onto a chair. I decided that the best thing for me to do was to keep quiet. Mum glared down at me again for a few seconds before the glare dropped and she dropped her head slightly and rubbed her temples.

"mum?"

"do you know what damage you could have done to your hand? You could have permanently ruined it if you had've hit it just slightly wrong!"

"I can't just sit here doing nothing mum! I have to do something, anything!"

She grit her teeth and slammed her fist into the wall. I cringed as the plaster crumbled and she pulled her hand out without it even having a scratch on it.

"damnit Kerrina! If you want to save your dad's life, then stop setting yourself back and get the rod out of your arse and actually start doing something!"

"I've been trying, but so far, all I've come up with involves dad dying!" I cried.

Her face softened slightly, but I could still see the frustration that was painfully obvious shining in her eyes.

"please Kerrina, just stop. Let your hand heal. I promise that by working together, you, me, your brother and Hwoarang will come up with something and we WILL save him"

I walked over to her at that point and wrapped my arms round her, burying my head into her shoulder. I didn't cry, but just hugging her was enough for me. She didn't return the embrace, but she didn't push me away either, which I took as a good sign.

After a few minutes, I pulled away before sitting down on the chair again to check my hand for damage after I had hit it earlier. Thankfully, everything was fine, and I hadn't pulled any stitches out. Something suddenly hit me then and I snapped my head up to look at her. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"what?"

"how the hell did you punch a hole in the wall and not even scratch your hand? Look what happened to mine when I did the same thing!"

"that, my daughter, is something I will teach you once your hand is healed. Trust me, it comes in very useful"

There was a knock on the door at that point, and a member of staff came in, asking if we had finished with the room. We said that we had, and as we moved outside, I saw her gape at the recently added hole in the wall, and found it very hard not to laugh.

I said farewell to mum and moved back up to mine and Hwoarang's room. He was sitting on the bed flicking through the channels with a bored expression, but he protested loudly when I snatched the remote out of his hands and switched the TV off before grabbing my notebook and pen, dropping them on his stomach.

"what the…?"

"well, we need to come up with a rescue plan to save dad, and I can't exactly write as my hand is screwed up, so guess who's my new scribe?"

Even though I was joking, I think Hwoarang could sense the seriousness behind what I had said, and opened the notebook to start writing.

No more messing around. It was time for action.


	23. Engagement

Three weeks later, the tournament was drawing to a close, and Hwoarang was still in. Steve had been knocked out in the quarter finals, and that had sent a wave of fear into me, but when Hwoarang came running into our room later that night and spun me around shouting out that he had made the final, some of that fear went away, to be replaced with a fierce determination to finally take action. My arm was now healed and between me, Jin and mum, we now had a plan that might actually work if we got our timing right.

Today was the day of Hwoarang's match. He was going to be fighting Kazuya in the final. While the match was going on, I was going to be saving my dad, as it was the only chance I would get. I woke up before Hwoarang and just sat there, watching him sleep, and tried to still the feeling of dread trying to settle on my stomach.

I was afraid. Afraid of failing the rescue, afraid of losing my dad, afraid of dying, and afraid that Hwoarang would be the one to face Kazuya, and what Kazuya would do to him. As if he somehow sensed that I was thinking about him, Hwoarang's eyes gently opened and he smiled at me. I think he noticed the emotions showing in my face as his smile faded, and without speaking, he pulled me down until I was lying on his chest. I put my arms round him, and just lay there, listening to the gentle thumping of his heart and his steady breathing. He kissed the top of my head, still not saying anything, just lying there.

I didn't want to move, but I knew that we both had to prepare for the day ahead. Before I got up though, I looked up at Hwoarang and he gave me a kiss. I kissed him back, before pulling away and giving him a sad smile.

"what's wrong?" he asked.

"please be safe. Don't get yourself killed."

He gave me a big grin and flexed his free arm to brag about his strength.

"hey don't worry about me darlin. I can take him."

"Hwoarang, please."

He gave me another kiss, tender and soft before smiling at me again.

"seriously Kerry, I will be careful. There's no way he's going to hurt me. I promise."

I looked away from him as I felt relieved that he at least was going to be careful. I felt him cup my chin and he pulled my head up so that my eyes met his. I almost had to tear my gaze away as the intensity of the love showing in his eyes was almost too much to bear. He kissed me again.

"I want you to promise me something too."

I looked at him, surprised.

"what is it?" I asked.

"I want you to come back alive and in one piece"

I began to laugh softly at that. I looked back at him, and stopped laughing at the seriousness in his face.

"I didn't finish. You have to be alive and in one piece because how are you supposed to say "I do" at the altar if you're in a wooden box?"

I actually stopped breathing then. All that was going through my mind was complete shock. Had he really just said that? I shot up and looked at him, and I know that my face was that of complete disbelief. He sat up and cupped my face again.

"look, I'm not all that good with the mushy stuff and I know I have a really bad reputation, but would you? Marry me one day?"

"oh my god! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

"ummm, Kerry?"

I saw the look of hurt that showed on his face and it hit me that he actually thought I would say no. instead of speaking, I threw my arms round him and buried my face in his neck, kissing it a couple of times. I then moved so that my lips were resting next to his ear.

"of course I will" I whispered.

Immediately, his arms tightened round me as he squeezed me against him. I sat back up and kissed him, placing both my hands on either side of his face so that I could pull him closer. He sat up so that he was resting on his forearms as he deepened the kiss, groaning as I gently stroked his topless chest. I thanked the gods that he had only chosen to wear boxers to bed and I was wearing a short satin nightdress as I straddled him, leaning into him as his hands trailed along my body.

A couple of hours later, we finally got out of bed and after sharing a shower, we moved back into the room to get dressed and ready for the day ahead. I pulled out a simple pair of jeans before putting on a black sports vest and a grey hoody. I then swept my still wet hair up into a ponytail, letting a couple of strands hang down, before bending to put on my trainers. I then reached down into Hwoarang's top drawer and pulled out a pair of his fighting gloves, putting them on, ignoring the smirk that came from him as I did. He pulled his typical fighting gear on with his combat boots, before also putting on a pair of his gloves. He then did something that surprised me. I had a small box with all my hair accessories in, and he pulled out my black bandana that was covered in an ancient Celtic design, and put it on his hair. I didn't say anything, just tied it for him as I saw he was struggling before turning him round once I had done and kissing him on the nose affectionately.

Just as we were about to leave the room, he suddenly grabbed me and pulled me out onto the balcony, where he then stood holding me like he did the day we confessed our love to each other. I felt him cover my eyes with one hand before doing something to my left hand. When he let me look, I gasped as I saw a plain gold ring with three small diamonds in the middle of it placed on my left ring finger.

"oh my god! I love it!" I gasped.

Hwoarang smiled before kissing me and then telling me that it was actually his mother's ring and she had given it to him the day she died for him to give to his future wife.

I didn't want to move from where we were standing, but a glance at a the time reminded me that we only had three hours until the match, so we had to move. We went downstairs to grab something to eat. Even though I wasn't hungry in the slightest, I still had to force myself to eat as I needed my strength and energy for the task. Mum was downstairs and gave me a small smile, then noticed my ring as I waved back as he eyes widened in surprise, before she mouthed 'congratulations' to me.

Once we were seated in the canteen, Asuka and Julia came over to us, and sat down with us. I smiled at them and picked up my drink, and thought for a second that Asuka had gone crazy when she suddenly shrieked. She grabbed my hand and showed Julia, who also shriek. Simultaneously, the pair of them jumped up, pulling me out of my seat and bouncing up and down, all the time screaming and laughing.

"my god! You're getting married! Congratulations!" Julia yelled.

"I so have to be bridesmaid!" Asuka joined in with.

I had to laugh at the pair of them and as I glanced over to Hwoarang, I saw him being congratulated by Steve, and as he caught my eye, I saw the love and pride shining in them. Once Asuka and Julia settled down, I moved over to Steve and gave him a hug.

"I'm proud of you" he said.

I smiled before looking over at everyone else in the room who were either giving the two girls strange looks about their behaviour, ignoring everything, or the odd couple such as Jin who called their congratulations over. I grinned over at him, but as I looked behind him my grin fell and was replaced with a glare as I spotted Kazuya. What the hell was he doing there? He walked over and immediately, Steve and Hwoarang stood next to me, and Jin started cautiously walking over, standing behind him.

"I do not know why you are all acting so hostile. I am merely here to wish my opponent good luck later, and as I have just quite literally stumbled upon the good news, I wish to congratulate my niece on her engagement."

"I don't need anything from you. Now go." I hissed.

For a brief moment, his face darkened and his red eye began glowing, but he eventually calmed down before sending Hwoarang a smirk and moving off outside to his limo.

I continued to glare long after the limo disappeared out of view, and only stopped as Jin came over to remind me that we had to leave now if we were to get dad. I nodded before turning to Hwoarang who had gone serious again and gave me a strange look, that was a mixture of worry and love. I wrapped my arms round him and gave him a long kiss, before moving off and meeting up with my mum, Jin and Steve, sending him one last look and smile as we disappeared round the corner.

It was time.


	24. Runo's Return and Exit

It only took an hour to arrive at Kazuya's mansion, and by that time my stomach was going completely berserk, and I felt like I was going to be sick if I stood there much longer. Mum looked over to me and gave me a reassuring nod, and Steve grabbed my left hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. I smiled at the pair of them to disguise my nerves.

The plan was that Jin would be inside the building and look for my dad, then he would ring me to let me know if he found him, and I would go in while he then went off to somewhere else to do something, I wasn't sure what. Mum and Steve would stay outside, mum at the entrance, Steve at the exit. They would be there to make sure that I was warned if anyone was coming so I could get the hell out of there.

My phone suddenly buzzed, and I quickly answered it, making mental notes of the directions Jin gave me to get to dad. I had to but him something special for Christmas, as he was risking so much doing this. They all were, and I would always be grateful to them. Without saying anything or looking at them, I ran off towards the house, entering the same way Jin had. I quickly ran down the corridors until I suddenly reached a locked steel door. I noticed a cupboard near the door and luckily found a set of keys, sighing in relief as I put one into the lock and it clicked. I pushed the door open, and screamed as I had to duck to avoid a leg flying in my direction.

"Kerrina?"

"thanks dad, just try to kill your rescuer!"

I looked up at him and my heart stopped. He was so thin and pale I could hardly recognise him. Not only was he beaten and bruised, he was also holding himself in such a way that I could tell he was badly hurt. I winced as I hugged him and heard him groan in pain, but I was just so worried about him. He gave me an awkward hug back and I started helping him down the corridor, back the way I had come in. unfortunately, a nasty shock was waiting for us at the end.

"hello, _Kerrina"_

I froze, not expecting this at all. I turned round and came face to face with Runo! Now most people would have the sense to ask what he was doing there and why, but the only thing going through my mind at the time was 'oh god, what's he going to do to us?'

He gave me one of his icy smiles that usually sent shivers down my back, and as per usual, it didn't fail to have that effect on me. I looked at him, evenly matching hi gaze.

"Runo, you have to let ,me get my dad out of here"

He cocked his head to one side and sent me an amused smile, that made me just want to smack him as hard as I could. I glared at him but as soon as I did, I remembered that it was a bad idea to piss him off, especially as the next thing I knew his hand had slapped me hard across the face, sending me flying halfway across the room.

"honey!" dad called.

I looked up at him from the floor and sent him a smile.

"get out of here. Carry on down this corridor and turn right then the next left. You should see Jin. If not keep going and you'll find the exit. Mum will help you"

I saw the look of worry he sent me, but I just responded with a confident smirk, that I had picked up from Hwoarang, before standing up and facing Runo, who had his back turned. I tapped on his shoulder, he turned to face me, and I just punched him in the face, sending him staggering backwards. Dad gave me a look of pride and I told him to go, thanking whoever was listening when he actually did as I asked that time and left. Runo glared at me before advancing to me. I sank into a fighting stance and as he moved to hit me, I ducked under him, flipping him off my back, and the second he hit the floor, I flipped to slam onto him. Unfortunately, he noticed it coming and rolled out of the way just in time, sweeping his leg out to knock me over, but I avoided it and moved out of the way. As soon as he stood up, he ran towards me, and slammed into me, causing the pair of us to slam onto the floor, with him pinning me down.

"you think you can beat me?" he asked in a patronising and taunting voice.

"I can, and I will" I growled back.

"right"

"what are you even doing here Runo?"

He pushed down onto my shoulder, and I winced as I felt the bones grating together, but not enough to dislocate it.

"well, when you did your vanishing act, an interesting man came to visit me and employed me as a guard here. I believe he's your uncle?"

"he's no uncle of mine!" I spat.

He smirked at me again, and I glared, causing him to dig even harder into my shoulder, and making me cry out in pain as he did.

"see? You can't beat me. Didn't you learn anything from Kaarnay?"

The second he said that name, he overstepped the line, and all my strength and emotion snapped. The hatred I had felt for him all these years resurfaced, and instead of fighting them back like I had done for so many years, I allowed them to explode out of me. Letting out a scream of fury, I pushed him off me, and without giving him any time to recover, I was now the one pinning him down.

I glared at him with as much hatred as I could, and for a brief second, I actually saw a glance of fear in his eyes. I recognised it, it had been the look in his eyes just before Kar beat him. I growled and slammed his head on the floor before standing up and kicking him in the side. Satisfied that he was down, I got up and started walking off. Suddenly, a feeling of _something_ flowed through me, and suddenly, Kar was beside me, giving me his usual smile. Tears came to my eyes as I looked at him, and he smiled even wider. Suddenly, he looked behind me.

"look out!" he yelled.

I pun round, just in time to have a switchblade hit me in my right shoulder, that had been aimed at the left side of my back. I pulled it out with a yell, and as I looked at it, my anger flared again. It was the exact blade he had used to kill Kar with.

I moved up to Runo as he struggled to stand, and pulled him up, ignoring him as he cried out in pain. I slammed him against the wall, smiling in satisfaction as I heard the grinding of bones underneath my hands. I then got out the blade and showed it to him.

"and just what were you planning on doing after you'd killed me huh? I have four people with me who would all be extremely pissed at you if they realised what you'd done."

He said nothing, just looked at me with fear, and what looked like respect in his eyes. He knew I had beaten him. I contemplated stabbing the blade into his throat or something, but a ghostly hand rested on my arm, stopping me. Runo must've also seen it as he suddenly lost all his colour.

"y…you…d…died!"

"yes Runo, I did. And I wasn't about to let you kill Kerry. She has more than just her family and fiancée to live for now."

I looked over at him, completely confused, and I noticed Runo did the same. Kar used his free hand to gently stroke my stomach. Understanding flushed through me as I realised what he was telling me. I then noticed Runo glaring at me.

"you fucking whore. Didn't take you long to throw yourself at him did it?"

I turned round and slapped his face, telling him to shut the hell up as I did. He just grinned at me again.

"one day, I'll come after you and your lover again. I'll make you watch me kill him!" he hissed.

I saw red at that, and ignoring Kar's comment, flipped the blade out and stabbed it deep into his shoulder, causing him to scream out loud as I twisted it for added effect. I then pulled it out and laughed as he sank to the floor, groaning in pain and clutching his shoulder. Kaarnay smiled at me one last time, before he looked down at Runo.

"I think my death has been avenged. Kerry is taking her rightful place as leader of the gang, and you are banished." he stated.

After I said this, Kar gave me a hug that I actually could feel, and told me that he always loved me and knew I would be happy with Hwoarang, before he turned and walked off, fading until I could no longer see him.

The second he vanished, I turned back to

"the banishment stands for the rest of your life. You take one step near the gang again, and you'll have a worse punishment than this. By the way, Mark is the new leader, not me, and don't you dare try to challenge him."

He was in too much pain to say anything, so he just nodded at me. I gave him a final glare before turning and running outside to meet up with my family again. Just as I reached the exit, I collided into someone and crashed onto the floor. I sprang back up onto my feet, and was about to knock them out until I realised it was actually Steve.

"Steve?"

"just coming to make sure you're ok…oh my god, your bleeding!"

"really, I hadn't noticed." I added sarcastically.

He just gave me a cheeky grin before wrapping an arm round me and helping me out the door. It wasn't until that point that I realised just how much blood I had lost and just how badly I was limping from my fight with Runo. Once we were out, I scanned the area to see mum wasn't there.

"where's mum, dad and Jin?"

"mum took dad to the hospital and Jin's staying here. Now come on, I'm taking you to the hospital too."

"no. you're taking me to the fight. And if you step on it, we should get there just as it starts. No arguing with me over this Steve."

I don't think he intended on arguing, he just got into the car and started driving without saying a word. I had to close my eyes as I realised I was losing blood still and it was starting to affect me. I leant my head against the window and prayed that Hwoarang would make it through this match. I rested my hand on my stomach and gently rubbed it, making Steve ask if I was ok.

"I'm fine Steve. Everything's going to be fine."


	25. Showdown

As soon as we pulled up by the stadium, I jumped out of the car and was running towards the entrance before Steve even had the chance to pull the keys out of the ignition. I raced into the arena just in time to see Hwoarang slam onto the floor, blood gently trickling down his face from a small cut just over his eye.

"Hwoarang!" I gasped.

A large crowd was gathered round the arena watching the match, and I started pushing through them, ignoring their protests as I did. Eventually I reached the edge of the arena and Asuka caught my attention by waving me over to her. I shook my head, silently telling her that I wasn't moving, and she frowned slightly.

I felt a hand tap my shoulder and turned to see Baek smiling at me. I smiled back at him and he gave my shoulder a friendly squeeze.

"congratulations on your engagement" he said.

"how'd you know?"

"Hwoarang spoke to me before the match. He asked me to look after you if anything were to happen to him."

"he'll be fine."

Baek gave me another smile and we turned to continue watching.

Hwoarang smirked at Kazuya, who returned it by growling. Kazuya then looked over Hwoarang's shoulder, straight at me, and his eyes narrowed, and I saw the familiar flash of the evil lightening behind his eyes. I didn't glare back, I just sent him the same smirk as Hwoarang had, which succeeded in making him glare even harder at me. Hwoarang must have wondered why Kazuya was glaring, so he turned round and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw me. I gave him a wide smile and waved at him, wincing slightly as I waved with my bad arm.

Kazuya turned back to Hwoarang as they readied themselves for the next round, the final one. I didn't know why but I had this feeling that Kazuya knew about my dad and was going to take his anger out on Hwoarang. I gulped the lump in my throat down and watched with a sense of worry as I saw Hwoarang start the round by throwing a few kicks aimed at Kazuya. Kazuya grabbed his leg at one point and swung him round before throwing him onto the floor. Hwoarang let out a loud yell, and I felt myself lurch forward, only stopping because Baek placed a steadying hand on me to keep me in place.

Hwoarang stood back up and stretched, but I noticed he was standing gingerly on his left leg. I didn't like that one bit. Hwoarang always preferred to kick with his right leg which meant putting his weight on his left leg. If he couldn't kick with his right, then he would lose a lot of power, which could ultimately stop him from winning. He kicked Kazuya a couple more times, but even I could tell that there was hardly any power there.

Kazuya just sneered at him before sending a barrage of attacks his way, and suddenly Hwoarang had to play the dodging game, as Kazuya continued to send attack after attack at him. I covered my mouth with horror as I saw the sparks of electricity flickering off Kazuya's arm.

"Hwoarang! Look out!" I screamed.

Too late. Suddenly, Kazuya's fist connected with Hwoarang's stomach, and the electricity surged all over Hwoarang, sending him crashing to the floor again, crying out as the electricity slashed deep gashes all over him. I screamed again but he suddenly started standing up, and charged towards Kazuya.

Kazuya didn't even let Hwoarang near him, he just gave a cynical laugh and grabbed his throat as he had mine, and started squeezing it. I began to shake with fear as Hwoarang's blood began to drip onto the floor and his face slowly started to turn red as he struggled to breath.

"Round three goes to Kazuya. The winner of the match and tournament is Kazuya"

Kazuya had won, but he showed no sign of it. He continued to strangle Hwoarang, even though he had finished.

Suddenly, everyone burst into action at once. I flew up onto the stage at the same time as Steve, Asuka, Julia and Baek. Steve and Baek both attacked Kazuya, which caused him to let go of Hwoarang. I managed to grab him as he began crashing onto the floor, and Julia and Asuka helped me to move him away, Asuka making a noise of surprise as she noticed my own wounds that were still bleeding. I shrugged her off and told the pair of them to help Baek and Steve out as they were struggling to control Kazuya. The crowd of people that had been watching the match had disappeared now as they had gotten scared as he hadn't stopped trying to kill Hwoarang.

As I looked down at Hwoarang, I suddenly felt myself go light headed. The loss of blood had finally caught up with me. However, I forced it back as I reached down to gently brush his hair off his face. His eyes opened and he smiled at me.

"hey." I said.

"hey yourself. I see you made it then?"

"yeah. Dad's safe."

He reached a hand up and cupped my face. I stroked his face before telling him to stay there. I called out to Julia and she came running over, holding her wrist that was swollen.

"look after him for me"

"sure thing"

I glanced over to Kazuya to see Steve clinging to his back, while Asuka was charging towards him. Baek was just about ready to hit him, and all of a sudden, I felt completely ready to fight. I ran over to them, ignoring Hwoarang call my name out in worry as I did, and as I reached him, I jumped into the air, flicking my leg out and hitting him squarely in the chest, forcing him to stumble backwards a few steps. As I landed, he glared at me.

"you're going to regret that, girl"

"bring it on" was all I said in response.

As soon as he said that, I suddenly felt all the air around me compress. The others must've felt it too as they all sank to the floor due to the power of it. I felt my knees start to bend, but there was a sudden surge of power from Kazuya and I was sent flying backwards, nearly landing on poor Hwoarang as I did.

"Kerry!" he groaned.

I grit my teeth and sat up, letting out an uncontrollable gasp of fear as I saw Kazuya, or more the devil _within_ Kazuya. Enormous black wings exploded from his back as sacred marks began sprawling over his body like thick black tentacles.

I felt Julia grasp my arm and her hand was shaking so badly it actually caused my whole arm to vibrate. I knew Kazuya had stepped up his game, and it was too dangerous for my friends to stay here anymore.

"everyone get out!"

They all turned to look at me, each one in disbelief, fear and refusal, but I managed to eventually force them to leave, even though they were all extremely reluctant to do so, especially Hwoarang and Steve. As soon as the last of them left, I turned to face Kazuya, who smirked.

"I see you managed to trick me, my niece" he growled.

His voice no longer sounded human. It was evil, pure evil. I was afraid, no, I was terrified to be standing there facing him like that, but at the same time, the adrenaline surging through me gave me just enough courage to stay where I was.

He watched me, his black eyes never once blinking. I watched him too, even though every part of my body was screaming at me to get the hell out of there. In the time it took me to blink, I felt a powerful force slam into my side and I was sent literally flying into the air, slamming into a wall, hissing and groaning as I heard the sickening snap of something breaking. Until I moved though, I couldn't be sure what was broken.

As soon as I pried myself off the wall, I realised what it was. My left wrist was swollen up and I could hardly move it without a searing pain racing through my arm. I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye and ducked, narrowly missing a huge blast of electricity that had been thrown my way. I then rolled away as I saw Kazuya moving towards me, crying out as I rolled straight onto my broken wrist. I heard Kazuya's laugh from behind me and at that point in time, I honestly couldn't help but think one thing…

I wasn't going to make it through this alive.


	26. Victory and Sacrifice

I had never been so scared in all my life. Sure I had faced death twice now in my eighteen years of existence but never in quite as violent and painful a way as this, and to be honest, it isn't exactly how I wanted to go. Not that I want to die.

I managed to punch Kazuya twice, one successfully snapping him nose to one side, and I also managed to kick him hard enough to wind him for a minute, long enough for me to be able to tear my belt off my jeans and strap it round my wrist to give some support. Before long though, I was back to blocking his attacks, nearly crying out each time he hit my wrist. I suddenly screamed as I felt him punch my shoulder that I had been stabbed in earlier, and I dropped to the floor, trying not to let him see the real pain I was in. as I dropped, he brought his foot up, kicking me in the stomach and forcing me to fall so that I was on my back, facing up at him. He triumphantly put a foot on my stomach and pressed down hard enough to pin me.

"ready to forfeit?"

I growled in frustration. I knew I was nowhere near strong enough to beat him, but I couldn't give up, not like this. I didn't answer him, but grabbed his leg and twisted it, feeling it snap beneath my hands and hearing him yell in pain. I had to smile at that. Even he wasn't invincible if you knew where to aim. He crumpled to the floor and I quickly stood up to move away. Bed move. As I started o move away, his eye suddenly exploded in red, and he launched into the air, his powerful wings holding him up.

I tried to run, but he slammed into me, sending me onto the floor again. He then picked me up with my hair, and I tried to punch him to make him let go, but it didn't work. He brought me so that my face was almost against his.

"I want to see you squirm" he hissed.

Suddenly, I felt a pain explode through my body and I threw my head back, letting out the loudest scream I have ever produced in my entire life. It was a white hot pain, searing through every nerve, every inch of my body, like a liquid fire, burning and slowly melting everything it came across, yet at the same time, every nerve in my body felt alive. I could actually feel my life draining away from me. Black spots crept across my vision, and I could feel myself blacking out.

Almost as soon as the pain started, it stopped and I dropped to the floor as I heard Kazuya cry out again in pain. It took all my strength to open my eyes and look up at him, but he was no longer there. Instead, I saw another person, this time with white wings instead of black, staring down at me. For a second I was terrified, but a sudden calm washed over me. Jin.

"do not worry, I will look after you."

I nodded, wanting to scream as the pain shot through me at every movement. Jin was suddenly attacked by Kazuya, and I watched as the pair of them fought, at the same time trying desperately hard not to pass out.

I saw Jin hitting the same wall I had, and I called out to him. I think Kazuya had forgotten I was there, or maybe thought I was dead or something as he sent a surprised look towards me. I tried to move, to do anything, but I was so weak, I physically couldn't even move my arms to push myself up. I could only lie there helplessly watching as he made his way over to me. He reached down and I felt his hand gripping my throat, powerless to stop him. Even as his hand tightened and he lifted me off the ground, chocking the life out of me, I just couldn't move to stop him.

A single tear fell down my face, and as it dropped off my chin, something in me broke free. Images of my friends and family flowed through my heads, all of them smiling, happy. An image of Hwoarang followed, giving me his trademark smirk. The final image was of me holding a tiny newborn baby, and it suddenly hit me that if I were to die right now, I wouldn't be the only one to die.

As if he had just shocked me again, a surge of energy blasted into me, this time a gentle one that seemed to soothe the burning in me and give me a new burst of energy. My eyes snapped open and I grabbed Kazuya's wrist with my good arm, managing to wrench myself free. He watched me with his eyes open wide with shock.

"how on earth?"

"don't underestimate me Kazuya. There's a very popular saying back hom about people like you. It says 'powerful people equals weak spirits'. you see Kazuya, I may be weak, but my spririt is strong, and because of that, I cannot let you kill me, and I think my family will agree."

As if by magic, the second those words were out of my mouth, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see dad standing next to me, a proud smile on his face. Mum stood slightly behind him, with steve on my other side, and Hwoarang directly behind me. Even Jin had reappeared and was standing next to steve. Six of us, one of him. A family, a united front. Even Kazuya knew he was beaten.

"mark my words, I will return, and you will all pay!"

His wings opened and he pushed off into the sky. I turned to face my family, and the first person I moved to was my dad. I wrapped my arms round him, and he held me as tight as he could, burying his face into my hair.

When I pulled away from him, I moved over to Hwoarang, and he sent me the smirk. I smiled back, before swaying slightly, as my lastest energy burst was beginning to ease off. Steve grabbed me to steady me and we all started laughing for no reason. The happiness was short lived though, as all of a sudden, there was a sound from above and I looked up to see Kazuya about to fire two of his bolts of electricity straight at Hwoarang. These ones were different though. These ones were set to kill. As they blasted down, I shoved Hwoarang out of the way and screamed as I felt them both hit me, one in the back on my right shoulder, the other through my stomach, eventually breaking through to the other side.

This time, as I fell to the floor and the black spots reappeared in my vision, I didn't try to stop them. I hardly heard the yealls and cries surrounding me. Everything seemed to be muffled and fading away. The last thing I saw before completely losing my battle was seeing Hwoarang's beautiful eyes filled with unshed tears as he gazed into my eyes. Yes, the blood talon himself was _crying_. I only had enough strength in me to say one thing, before I finally succumbed to the darkness.

"please don't let my baby die"


	27. The End

Right, This is not a chapter, this is a note from me to let you know that as I have had a few people asking me not to kill Kerrina, I have made a decision. Here goes…

I have finished this story. This is the end.

Don't panic and don't threaten to kill me though. There WILL be a sequel, but I have decided to be mean for once and make you wait for a while before finding out whether she survives or not.

I have made this decision as my other fics need to seriously be updated as I've been focusing on this one so much I have partially abandonned all my other fics, so I will be spending a little while on them.

Don't worry, it isn't going to be weeks and weeks before it's up and running, maybe only about a week or so, but I thought I'd be nice and give you prior warning.

And Darial; thank you so much for putting up with me and reviewing all my chapters. I really appreciate it.

Just a quick warning to everyone: you can email me as much as possible to ask if she lived or not, but I'm not going to tell you! You'll have to wait a bit.

Thanks again!!! And see you soon!!!!!


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